House prices fall; opening for more landlords?

With more buy-to-let mortgage products are available than ever before, it seems that news just keeps getting better for landlords after the latest report from Nationwide. On February 1st, the building society revealed that house prices dropped by 0.2 per cent in January - a decline akin to that experienced during December.

British house prices are going this way due to a number of issues, according to the institution - the Eurozone crisis, the possibility of prospect of more unemployment and the inability to find mortgage deposits have been cited as key issues facing the housing market.

Nationwide went on to explain that the average first-time buyer is now choosing to go with a 20 per cent deposit, compared to half this total - ten per cent - in early 2008, before the recession kicked in fully. While lower deposit requirements are available to buyers up and down the country, most carry tough interest rates.

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, concluded: "The demand/supply balance may move further in favour of buyers in the months ahead. The economy is not expected to gather much momentum until the second half of 2012 at the earliest, which suggests that labour market conditions and buyer sentiment may be slow to improve."