Research commissioned by The Mortgage Lender has fond that landlords are still looking to increase property portfolios despite Covid-19.

Three in ten landlords see coronavirus as an opportunity and the number of landlords looking to increase the number of properties they own has increased by 71%.

The survey, conducted by OnePoll between 1 July and 8 July this year, revealed 19% of landlords intend to increase their portfolios over the next 12 months compared to 12% who were looking to add buy-to-let properties in April last year (71% increase), the last time The Mortgage Lender commissioned research among landlords.

Despite 35% of landlords viewing Covid-19 as an issue, it has not altered the investment plans of half of investors, while 25% said it had changed their plans somewhat and 25% said it had changed their plans completely.

Overall, the number of landlords seeking to reduce the number of properties they own has gone down from 16% in April last year to 14% now and those looking to maintain has also gone down from 72% to 67%, with the resulting 7% difference accounting for the rise in landlords who want to expand their portfolios.

Steve Griffiths, The Mortgage Lender sales director, said: “We’ve seen the evidence in our own application figures that many landlords see Covid-19 as a blip rather than a reason to change their long-term plans and our research bears this out.

“And it’s important for those landlords and their brokers that there is a competitive specialist market for their business that comes with strong financial backing.

“With a strong funding line, we have been able to operate in the buy-to-let market throughout the pandemic and help those landlords who want to capitalise on what they see as an opportunity.”