BUY-to-let has been the shining light of the property market since the late 1990s - but are the storm clouds beginning to gather?
Soaring property prices, low interest rates and a lacklustre stock market have all boosted the appeal of buy-to-let over the last four or five years.
Kickstarted by new regulations that made it easier for landlords to deal with sitting tenants, and fuelled by soaring house prices and the ready availability of specialist mortgages, the buy-to-let market has grown dramatically.
Last year, the number of buy-to-let mortgages rose by 50 per cent as a growing number of small investors jumped on the bandwagon.
Altogether, lenders advanced buy-to-let loans worth £6.6 billion in 2001, compared with £3 billion in 1999.
But close followers of the property market will have detected a sea-change in attitudes in recent months.
Market analysts such as Datamonitor say that the novelty of buy-to-let is wearing off, with the boom set to subside in the next few years.
Other experts agree. Property database company Hometrack say that the days of get-rich-quick from buy-to-let are over. Meanwhile, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) cautions against entering the buy-to-let market at all in the current climate.
