Insurance News Archive
Scottish buy to let insurance customers 'have grounds for optimism'
Buy to let property insurance policyholders have been told that increased property sales in Scotland are providing "grounds for optimism" about the state of the market, according to legal firm Russel & Aitken.
The latest report by the Registers of Scotland showed that house prices in the country rose by 3.6 per cent in the second quarter of 2010, while the volume of sales increased by 29.6 per cent in the same timeframe.
Dianne Paterson, residential property partner at Russel & Aitken, suggested that, while the figures are good news for buy to let property insurance customers, there are concerns that the number of properties for sale is "still substantially down" on pre-recession levels.
She went on to say that restricted lending criteria continue to affect first time buyers' ability to access the market, which could boost the confidence of buy to let landlords, who may be able to benefit from increased demand for rental housing.
"To a large extent, the property market is fuelled by confidence and these figures suggest that confidence is at last returning to the market place," she said.
Posted by Dan Winters
09 Aug 2010
