Home sellers who bought property in 2014 or earlier pocketed profits of more than £70,000 last year.
The number of properties bought in 2014 was the most ever in a year, says property consultancy Savills.
These properties accounted for 55% of home sales in the UK in 2018, and generated an average gain of £73, 127 for the owners, shows research by the firm.
The biggest gains were £576,187 in Kensington and Chelsea, while the smallest profits were £1,687 for Middlesbrough home sellers.
Only 4% of sellers in London and the South East made a loss on home sales, rising to 19% in the North and 31% in the North East.
Buy to let rents stagnate
Rents have risen by 7% between January 2015 and January 2019, but the market has stood still for many months and is likely to stay stagnant for some time.
Rent growth has slowed since the start of 2016 and added just 1% in the 12 months to January 2019, fresh data from the Office for National Statistics shows.
In London, rents improved by 0.1% between December and January, down from a 0.2% rise the month before.
“Growth in private rental prices paid by tenants in the UK has generally slowed since the beginning of 2016, driven mainly by a slowdown in London over the same period,” says the ONS.
Landlords choosing not to buy new investments
Tax changes and tighter regulation seems to be driving landlords away from investing in buy to let homes.
Bank and building society trade body UK Finance says the number of new mortgages fell 5.6% year-on-year in December to 5,100 loans. Money borrowed dropped 12.5% to £700 million.
Borrowing figures for 2018 confirm the trend of landlords deciding not to invest more money in buy to let.
Although 66,400 new mortgages worth £9 billion were taken out, this was 11.5% down on homes purchased and 15% on money borrowed in 2017.
The remortgage market was brighter in 2018, with 169,100 loans worth £27 billion agreed with landlords, which was a 11% increase in number and value on 2017.
Tenant fee ban for Wales
Expat landlords with renting out homes in Wales face a tenant fee ban expected to start in September.
The Welsh Assembly is expected to pass The Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Bill on March 19.
The Bill will stop landlords and letting agents charging tenants fees to start or renew a rental agreement.