The director of the website Home says that investment in buy to let will look like a highly attractive safe haven once the lockdown is over.

Doug Shepherd, whose website publishes a monthly market snapshot based on an analysis of portal property listings, says: “Given that lending rates remain low and look set to go even lower, thanks to the wider economic malaise and market panic, British bricks and mortar will continue to be a highly attractive safe haven for investors once the lockdown has ceased.”

He says that buy to let, which had recently looked unattractive because of the government’s attacks on it in terms of higher taxes and stricter regulations, will now look increasingly tempting to landlords who may otherwise have been anticipating quitting the sector before the Coronavirus crisis.

“Shortages of rental property still affect the whole country and the scarcity is worst in London where rents were already skyrocketing before the pandemic took hold” he says in his latest market report. 

“Moreover, the possibility of a reasonable return on investment might entice more investors to return to the private rental sector and thereby redress the pitiful shortfall in available homes to rent.”

Shepherd’s data shows that newly-available rental property across the UK – already in short supply before the virus crisis – is now down 23 per cent year on year. 

“Competition for the dwindling number of available properties to let has driven up the mix-adjusted average rent in Greater London by 9.0 per cent in just 12 months” he adds.