B&C and Octopus Real Estate to host virtual roundtable on the changing appetite of BTL investors




Bridging & Commercial will be hosting its next virtual roundtable, in partnership with Octopus Real Estate, on 29th April.

The interactive event, which is part of a series launched this year, will start at 11am and will be moderated by Medianett’s editor, Beth Fisher.

The topic will be on ‘The changing appetite of BTL investors in 2021 and beyond’.

Octopus Real Estate’s head of residential, D’mitri Zaprzala, and head of BTL sales, Steve Matthews, will be joined by David Williams, managing director at Results Asset Management Limited; James Perris, director at De Villiers Chartered Surveyors; Alec Chohan, senior manager for commercial finance at Knox Capital Solutions; and Matthew Rowne, director at The Buy to Let Broker.

The panellists will discuss geographical changes in BTL investing, the potential move away from mainstream lenders and the increasing importance of specialist lenders in this space to brokers. 

Registration is open and it is free to attend for all professionals working in the sector. 

The panel will be taking questions during the session and attendees are encouraged to get involved. 

The event will also be available to watch after 29th April on B&C.

“For some, regulation, tax changes and challenges of being a landlord have become a reason to look for alternative investments but, for many, this is seen as an opportunity and brings out the very best of the entrepreneur spirit,” said Steve.

“The lender, broker and landlord community have now had years to familiarise themselves with regulatory and tax changes and now is the time to start looking forward to what being a successful landlord in 2021 and beyond looks like. 

“It is imperative that the lender and broker communities stay close to their landlord customers and seek to find ways to accommodate the financial needs of landlords, while balancing the potential risk of developing markets. 

“It is clear that the emergence of short-term lets, HMO’s and BRRR (buy, refurb, rent, refinance) strategies are hot topics and here to stay — the skill is to match these strategies with the right market and areas to ensure they deliver the product and returns intended.”

James added: “Residential BTL in and around London has, for almost 20 years, not been seen as a particularly attractive income play, but one where capital appreciation comfortably offset any of the annual income losses.  

“But the loss of inflation on capital values, plus the recent tax changes, has left investing in residential property around London unattractive or for the very low-geared investor only, so residential investors are needing to look elsewhere. 

“Areas with lower capital values can still offer a reasonable return without relying on house price inflation and we are also seeing a significant increase in the creation of HMOs as one area to improve returns.  

“While the HMO arena is no longer the ‘Rachman-esque’ environment it used to be and is offering some exceptional returns, there lies the longer-term risk of increased regulation and tax changes,  area saturation and the reduced demand for bedsit living caused by Brexit and lower rents.”

Matthew stated: “The way people live and work has gone through forceable change over the last year, [and] landlords have never been in more demand throughout this flux. 

"As we begin to appreciate the size of migration away from pure city lifestyles, and the subsequent evolution and external investment within localities and environments that have not been the traditional domain of the PRS, it is imperative that the professional landlord continues to adapt and evolve to remain robust.”

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