In theory, 2022 looks to be a promising year for buy-to-let investors. Soaring tenant demand is expected to continue, pushing up rents in the process.
But a looming tax rise threatens to dampen the recent boom. Chancellor Rishi Sunak was close to increasing the stamp duty surcharge on additional property purchases to four percentage points in the most recent Budget. It was pulled at the last minute, but experts believe the tax rise has merely been put on ice, rather than scrapped altogether. Combined with costly changes under incoming energy performance rules, it could be enough to trigger another exodus of smaller landlords from the market.
It's not all doom and gloom for landlords, however. One 38-year-old is close to retirement thanks to his buy-to-let portfolio, stock market investments, and a strict savings plan. He plans to retire a millionaire in 2023. My colleague Jessica Beard asked him how he did it.
Meanwhile, Alexandra Goss meets the families and friends buying together, or next door, after months of lockdown kept them apart. Proximity to loved ones has shot up the priority list for many and it seems a bubble really can be for life, not just lockdown.
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