Credit crunch 'has boosted Scottish buy-to-let market'

07-Apr-2008

The credit crunch has caused a substantial increase in demand for rental property in Scotland, an expert has said.

Estate agent Rettie & Co has noted that there has been significant take up of good quality rental mortgages on offer, particularly in sought after locations such as Edinburgh.

The group stated that those investing in the buy-to-let market in Edinburgh tend to focus on new build properties that offer one or two-bedroom flats at a fixed price.

Commenting on the development, Diarmid Mackenzie Smith, lettings manager for Rettie & Co, said: "With the effects of the so-called 'credit crunch', first-time buyers will now come back into the rental sector which will explain the increase in rental demand and signs of rental increases that have recently been experience."

He added that some 95 per cent of properties let by his organisation in the first quarter of this year are owned by investors.

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