The Council of Mortgage Lenders says that the buy-to-let sector now accounts for a record portion of mortgage loans in the UK according to data from mortgage lenders.
Property investors have been attracted by low interest rates and high rents thus fuelling the demand for property suitable for letting.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) warns that that purchasers are risking nasty surprises and huge repair costs by not obtaining a pre-purchase survey.
One in five of those who did not bother obtaining a survey later uncovered faults, according to research involving more than 1,000 buyers conducted by ComRes for the RICS.
Remedial work cost £5,750 on average.
The RICS said 17% of new owners ended up paying more than £12,000 to make their homes habitable.
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A more stable and “positive” year in the UK housing and mortgage markets can be expected in 2013, a lenders’ group has said. Increased activity in the number of first time buyers has been reported in Wales, London and other areas of the UK. Data showed that first time house buyers are regaining their confidence and re-entering the housing market.
House prices in the UK have recorded their first annual rise since October 2010, rising by 1.3% in January compared with a year earlier, Halifax has said. They did however, note that property values were 0.2% down on December.
The “signs of improvement” in the market, which started in late 2012, continued into the new year, the lender said.
They added that the outlook for prices was somewhat unclear.
In the three months to January prices were 1.9% higher than in the previous three months, with the price of the average home valued at £162,932.
The figures, based on the Halifax’s own lending data, suggested that prices had picked up slightly more year-on-year than figures from the Nationwide Building Society. The figures from the two lenders often differ to some extent however.