Monday 29 September 2014

Reader's Letter Of The Day

From today's Metro:

Half of those aged 20 to 24 can't afford to leave their parents' house (Metro, Fri) while it was recently reported that landlords have earned a massive £32 billion* from private renters.

Could these two facts be linked?

Julian Self, via email.


Yes.

* Direct Line calculated that landlords' gross rental income is £32 billion per year.

I've calculated that the figure is probably more than £40 billion a year, of which banks thwack off around one-quarter in mortgage interest, and you can double that to £80 billion a year if you include capital gains.

3 comments:

A K Haart said...

There are lots of old terraced houses round here, built when the mines were working. They make good starter homes but landlords seem to be snapping them up.

On a local estate, relatively new small semis supposedly built for first time buyers are being gobbled up by landlords within weeks of going on the market.

benj said...

Private rented households in the UK=18%.

Total UK rental value=£300bn

Landlord income=£54bn

But, private rental homes are 30% in London and higher than average in the SE. Of course rental accommodation is more likely smaller houses and flats.

Even so, due to the London effect, I think that figure (£54b) is more likely to be higher. >£60bn perhaps?

And, london has much higher land values as % of total value.

Hence, land rent alone for private rented housing is >£40bn per year.

Mark Wadsworth said...

AKH, Bj, it is quite possible that BTLers are collecting even more rent than my higher estimate, but that's details details and all just backs up the Reader's Letter.