So poor a move to most advisers consider buy-to-let for many retirees that one adviser questioned the FCA during a recent FTAdviser retirement freedoms event on whether he should simply walk away from clients insisting they wish to go down this route.
Separately, Rightmove's monthly house price index revealed the average new seller asking price is just £30 below the all-time high of £281,782 last June, following a 1 per cent rise in the price of property coming to market.
The number of newly-listed properties is up by 3.2 per cent compared to last month, though first-time buyer properties have seen the lowest increase in supply (2.6 per cent) and are the sector seeing the highest annual price rise (7.6 per cent).
Ken Hume of estate agents James Alexander in South West London, said his local market is currently suffering from some pre-election jitters, however the lack of supply is pushing prices up, especially for mid-range houses.
“We’ve had enquiries from a number of older people considering buy-to-let which is likely to have an effect this year, with interest expressed particularly in smaller flats where yields are higher.
“Post-election we expect to see a return to business as usual and for the market to rise on the back of the low interest rate environment.”
peter.walker@ft.com
