Released on: February 7, 2008, 10:59 am

Press Release Author: Jim watson

Industry: Real Estate

Press Release Summary: After all the recent negative press about buy-to-let in the
UK, the industry may be in better shape than some imagine, it seems.

Press Release Body: After all the recent negative press about buy-to-let in the UK,
the industry may be in better shape than some imagine, it seems.

This news may not be much of a revelation to those who have seen the optimistic
outlooks presented by the recent surveys from Bradford and Bingley, Alliance &
Leicester and the Association of Residential Lettings Agents (Arla), all of which
have shown high levels of investor optimism. Arla\'s survey showed that the average
investment lasts 16.7 years. Alliance & Leicester came up with the even longer
figure of 18 years for the nine out of ten who wanted to keep their portfolio for
longer than a decade.

Now, however, it is not just the investors themselves who have revealed their
optimism. In the announcement by Nationwide of its latest monthly house price index,
which showed a 0.1 per cent drop in January, senior economist Martin Gahbaur said:
\"We do not believe that the long-term fundamentals of buy-to-let are necessarily as
poor as recent commentary may suggest.\"

The phrase long-term, of course, is instructive. The theme has been repeated time
and again by those who carried out the surveys, with examples such as the comments
by Alliance & Leicester head of specialist mortgages Jeremy Claridge, who,
responding to last month\'s survey, said: \"It is clear the buy-to-let property market
is still healthy for longstanding landlords, especially for those in the south-east
of the country.\"

What Mr Ghabauer did was back up this theme with an economist\'s analysis that
confirmed what so many had already concluded - that the market was not so good for
short-term investors, but sound for those with a long-term plan. Speaking of the
lower yields that the present market may offer, he said: \"While such concerns are
certainly relevant, they are much more of a factor for those with a short investment
horizon rather than for those in it for the long term. A property investor planning
to hold the investment over a long period will benefit from future rental growth and
is in a better position to ride out temporary periods of weak capital gains.\"

Just as importantly, Mr Gahbauer recognised the trend for the average investor to be
in the latter group rather than the former. Noting the rise of alternative
investment strategies after a series of blows to confidence in traditional pension
funds between 2001 and 2003, he concluded: \"Many investors are motivated by
longer-term retirement planning rather than the expectation of making a quick gain.
If true, there are reasons to be more sanguine about buy-to-let than suggested by
recent headlines.\"

What Mr Gahbauer is saying may simply be adding flesh to the bones of what is
already known. But as well as this, there are indications that there is still growth
in buy-to-let in many locations. For instance, Irene Thomas, operations manager at
Auction Finance in Manchester, told the Manchester Evening News: \"In the rental
market we continue to see a steady increase in the number of buy-to-let investors.\"
Such a trend suggests sanguine is the least one might be about the prospects for
buy-to-let.

In today\'s world Property investment is an excellent investment option especially
investment in UK

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