Quarter landlords refinancing says survey

Posted: 28 Nov 2006 10:54:55 GMT

A quarter of landlords have refinanced property over the last year, research for Landlord Mortgages (LM) has found, in what it said was anticipation of a softening market

A quarter of landlords have refinanced property over the last year, research for Landlord Mortgages (LM) has found, in what it said was anticipation of a softening market.

Refinancing, rather than selling, allowed them to avoid capital gains tax and create a "war chest" for investment in low-price property if the market falls, said LM.

"The experienced landlord will be taking advantage of this 'cheap' money and will be ready to make the most of an uncertain market," said Lee Grandin of LM.

"At LM we are seeing a great deal of 'pound cost averaging' in the landlord community whereby investors even out house price fluctuations by buying at regular intervals, thus averaging out the returns over a longer period of time."

Other analysts claimed that landlords may be using the capital gains to subsidise falling rental yields however, reports In2perspective.

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