Some 89% of landlords believed the buy-to-let sector would benefit from more lenders or greater competition.
Although landlords were dissatisfied with the current range of buy-to-let products on the market, research by the NLA found that property acquisition was in fact on the rise with one in 10 landlords having added properties to their portfolios over the past three months and one in five expecting to do so in the next year.
More than half of landlords did not believe that access to buy-to-let mortgages was getting any easier with three in five agreeing that their individual circumstances as landlords were not being considered by buy-to-let lenders.
David Salusbury, chairman of the NLA, said: “Early signs of increasing property acquisition suggest that landlords are feeling more confident about future prospects of the buy-to-let market.
“However, while these findings are encouraging, some professional landlords, with more extensive portfolios, seem to be struggling to secure funds for additional expansion.
“The private-rented sector is playing an increasingly important role in the provision of housing. Buy-to-let products must be sustainable, with consideration for the longer term, if the private-rented sector is to rise to this challenge.”
