Buy-To-Let Investors 'to Sell 500,000 Properties' as Confidence Plummets

Landlord trade body predicts major sell-off as tax changes cause investors to quit the market

Landlords will sell 500,000 properties in the next 12 months, according to new research from buy-to-let investor trade body the National Landlords Association (NLA).

It says landlord confidence is at its lowest ebb since the dark days of the banking crisis.

The proportion of landlords looking to sell in the next 12 months has more than doubled since July 2015.

The sudden pessimism follows George Osborne’s double-whammy tax attack on the sector. In his July Budget he announced the removal of landlords' mortgage interest tax relief which, when fully implemented in 2020-21, will mean some landlords pay tax on zero income or even on losses.



And in November he announced that landlords would pay a 3pc stamp duty surcharge, coming in from this April.

Mr Osborne said the policies were aimed at "creating a level playing field" in Britain's under-supplied property market.

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