| Now the university year is in full swing, the latest | | | | National has found that students and their parents |
| studies of the state of the student segment of | | | | are not just being the customers of buy-to-let |
| the buy-to-let home market have been carried | | | | but are increasingly joining the ranks of owners. |
| out. The news which has emerged is of changes | | | | The bank found that 88,000 students already live |
| to the nature of the market which landlords need | | | | in their own place while studying at university, a |
| to be aware of if they are to stay ahead in what | | | | quarter of whom are living in places that their |
| is an increasingly lucrative business. | | | | parents have bought for them to stay in. The |
| That it is lucrative is not in doubt, with research | | | | new buy-to-let investors, it seems, are either |
| published earlier this year by Landlord Mortgages | | | | Mum and Dad, or the students themselves, |
| showing average student buy-to-let yields were | | | | whose ownership of a property in a university |
| 6.59 per cent, compared with 5.42 per cent for | | | | town, either alone or in partnership with friends, |
| the rest, while buy-to-let firm Paragon found that | | | | opens up their own chance to be landlords. |
| landlords with student lets on their books | | | | Commenting on this development, Abbey's head |
| averaged yields of seven per cent, while those | | | | of mortgages Nici Audhlam Gardiner said: "Britain's |
| who did not only saw yields of 5.6 per cent. | | | | student population continues to be a source of |
| So far this year, real estate agency Hamptons | | | | income for buy-to-let property investors, many |
| International has found that not only is demand | | | | of whom are parents of the students or the |
| strong, but also restrictions on supply have seen | | | | students themselves." |
| an increase in the proportion of students renewing | | | | She added some advice for these new investors, |
| their tenancies, a phenomenon at odds with the | | | | should they take out a buy-to-let mortgage: "The |
| rest of the buy-to-let market, hotproperty.co.uk | | | | key issue with any mortgage, but a buy-to-let |
| reports. | | | | one in particular, is affordability. People considering |
| In addition to this, there is increased demand for | | | | it need to make sure that they can afford the |
| quality, far from the outdated stereotype of the | | | | mortgage payments plus any maintenance costs, |
| hit comedy The Young Ones. Rather than dirty | | | | service charges and down-time between |
| digs with rising damp, there is an increasing desire | | | | tenancies that they will also need to cover." |
| to live in a high standard of accommodation. | | | | But while these new investors get their own |
| "Students are increasingly savvy when it comes | | | | advice, existing buy-to-let landlords looking to get |
| to getting in early to secure their ideal property," | | | | into the student market need to be clued up as |
| said Hamptons spokesperson Melanie Williams. | | | | well. The message is clear that students want a |
| She added that students were willing to pay a | | | | better quality of decor and facilities than was |
| good rate of rent for properties, which were well | | | | perhaps once the case. Moreover, if the landlords |
| decorated and had modern kitchens and | | | | don't meet that demand, there are others - |
| bathrooms. | | | | including entrepreneurial students themselves - |
| But if some are failing to live up to the image of | | | | who will. As ever, knowing the market well is the |
| Rick, Neil and Vivian, other students are taking | | | | key. |
| matters a step further. Research by Abbey | | | | |