Buy-to-let investors not affecting first time buyers

Buy-to-let investors are not making it difficult for first-time buyers to enter the market, according to the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA).

The regulatory body has said that buy-to-let investors tend to move in the middle market and as a result do not have a great effect on the average first-time buyer.

Malcolm Harrison, a spokesman for ARLA, said: "The buy to let investor tends to go into the middle market; and buy-to-let, until very recently, has done no more than refinance big chunks of the private rental sector, and only in the last year or so has actually helped to grow the private rental sector."

Recent research from the National Housing and Planning Advice Unit found that buy-to-let mortgages have made a contribution to the inflation of house prices in the last few years.

The research also revealed however, that it had not made as big an impact as rising incomes, limited supply and low and stable interest rates.

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