Three in ten landlords see the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity and the number of landlords looking to increase the number of properties they own has jumped by 71 per cent according to research commissioned by The Mortgage Lender.

The survey, conducted by OnePoll between 1 July and 8 July this year, revealed 19 per cent of landlords intend to increase their portfolios over the next 12 months compared to 12 per cent who were looking to add buy to let properties in April last year (71 per cent increase), the last time The Mortgage Lender commissioned research among landlords.

Even though 35 per cent of landlords see COVID-19 as a problem, it has made no difference to the investment plans of half of investors, while 25 per cent said it had changed their plans somewhat and 25 per cent said it had changed their plans completely.

Overall, the number of landlords seeking to reduce the number of properties they own has gone down from 16 per cent in April last year to 14 per cent now and those looking to maintain has also gone down from 72 per cent to 67 per cent, with the resulting 7 per cent difference accounting for the uptick in landlords who want to expand their portfolios.

The Mortgage Lender Head of Sales David Eaves said: “We’ve seen the evidence in our own application figures that many landlords see COVID-19 as a blip rather than a reason to change their long-term plans and our research bears this out.

“And it’s important for those landlords and their brokers that there is a competitive specialist market for their business that comes with strong financial backing.

“With a strong funding line, we have been able to operate in the buy to let market throughout the pandemic and help those landlords who want to capitalise on what they see as an opportunity.”

To find out more about buy to let products from The Mortgage Lender visit: www.themortgagelender.com