It has been predicted by the Government, using their own statistics, that by 2032, “more than one in three properties will be owned by private landlords”. There are currently two million private landlords in Britain, renting out around five million properties, and as more and more find it hard to get mortgages and put down deposits on their own properties, renting is still the only option for a lot of people.
The industry has boomed since its conception in 1996, when mortgages “specially aimed at private landlords were made available.” As an industry it is now worth £1 trillion and is continuing to grow substantially, as shown by the Government’s ’18 Years of Buy-to-Let’ report.
Buy-to-Let success stories became commonplace, especially during the housing boom between 2005 and 2007, and there hasn’t been a catastrophic ‘bust’ as many expected, if anything the recession and housing crash helped the industry. “The banking crisis led to a mortgage drought which prevented younger generations from buying, and instead swelled the pool of renters”, and this is still a common problem for many who want to be able to afford their first property but find it increasingly difficult to make those first steps. Paragon, one of the UK’s leading buy-to-let mortgage providers, have understandably been vocal in their praise of the boom. They think that “it has helped to shape a private rented rector that…provides choice, value and flexibility for tenants”.
Wellesley & Co. are contributing to this boom by providing property development loans and bridging loans to investors who want to develop both private and commercial properties throughout Britain. The most notable of which was the largest ever Peer-to-peer loan of £10.8m, which was used to develop the iconic Bristol building Burwalls in April 2014.
Wellesley & Co. are the fastest growing P2P Platform in the UK and due to successful business developments are in a great position to lend further to assured borrowers.