10,000 landlords in mortgage arrears

Over 10,000 landlords are more than three months behind on their mortgage payments, according to recent findings.

The report from Hargreaves Lansdown indicates that some landlords may be forced to sell up and could encourage more people to rent property in London.

It is also expected that falling house prices, which average ten per cent, threaten to push those who bought last year into negative equity.

Hargreaves Lansdown has said that those with cheap initial rates are now unlikely to be able to remortgage for the same loan-to-value.

"Borrowing to invest can be a hazardous strategy, just as much with property as with any other form of investment, because you magnify losses as well as gains," said Laith Khalaf, pensions analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

She went on to say that buy-to-let should not be seen as an alternative to making regular savings into a pension.

Figures show that £1 put into a buy-to-let property with a 75 per cent loan-to-value over the past 25 years would now be worth £3.63, compared to £3.98 in a pension, reports the Daily Mail.

Criteria to secure buy-to-let mortgages have also be toughened, with the number of mortgage packages falling 97 per cent over the past year.

Published 18th August, 2008

© 2008 Estates IT Limited