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“We’re in Burnley now, a hotspot for investment, with landlords taking home an annual rental yield of 7 per cent.” So opened episode 23 of Homes Under the Hammer, broadcast this week, a BBC show that follows buyers who purchase rundown homes at auction and renovate them, either to flip for a profit, or to rent out. In a testament to Britain’s enduring fascination with property investment, the show is in its 27th series.
“我们现在在伯恩利，这是一个投资热点，房东每年可以获得7%的租金收益。”本周播出的BBC节目《锤子下的家园》(Homes Under the Hammer)第23集如此开场。该节目追踪购买拍卖会上破旧房屋并进行翻新的买家，他们要么翻转获利，要么出租。作为对英国对房地产投资持久着迷的证明，该节目已经播出了第27季。
Once renovated, the three-bed semi will rent for £650 per calendar month, the estate agent says. It sells for £78,000 to brothers Charlie and Harry from London (with 20 properties already under their belt), who plan to put it straight out to rent after a four-week renovation that cost less than £10,000. Spoiler: they do it in three weeks and achieve an 8 per cent yield.
房产中介表示，这套三居室半独立式住宅翻新后，每月租金将为650英镑。查理和哈里两兄弟（来自伦敦，已拥有20处房产）以78,000英镑购得此房，计划在花费不到10,000英镑进行为期四周的翻新后立即出租。剧透：他们实际上在三周内完成了翻新，并实现了8%的收益率。
Sounds easy, right? Anyone with a reasonable chunk of money to invest ought to consider getting into the landlord game. Not so fast, though: the Burnley developers may have done well — but the town is in a sweet spot, where the figures for buy-to-let still add up.
听起来很容易，对吧？任何有一大笔钱要投资的人都应该考虑进入房东行当。但别急：伯恩利的开发商可能做得不错——但这个城镇正处于一个甜蜜点，买房出租的数据仍然合理。
Across much of the rest of the UK, investors face big mortgage interest bills and much lower yields. The broader picture for the sector is far less rosy — and some think there are even worse conditions coming down the track.
在英国其他大部分地区，投资者面临着高额的抵押贷款利息支出和较低的收益率。该行业的总体情况远不如人意，有些人认为未来的情况可能会更糟。
Margins are lower and regulations are tougher. Jonathan Gittos at fintech mortgage broker Porthos & Co says: “Many think their nest egg has cracked. Most are gradually paying off existing loans, moving back into properties themselves or even selling.”
利润率更低，监管更严格。金融科技抵押贷款经纪公司Porthos & Co的乔纳森•吉托斯(Jonathan Gittos)表示：“许多人认为他们的储备金已经破裂。大多数人正在逐步还清现有贷款，自己搬回房产，甚至出售房产。”
Hamptons, an estate agent, this week released research showing that landlords purchased just one in 10 of all homes sold across Great Britain during the first half of this year, the lowest share since records began in 2010. The firm says high mortgage rates mean new buy-to-let investors are increasingly focusing on the highest-yielding areas to make the sums stack up.
房地产中介公司汉普顿斯(Hamptons)本周发布的研究报告显示，今年上半年在英国售出的所有房屋中，房东仅购买了十分之一，这是自2010年有记录以来的最低比例。该公司指出，由于抵押贷款利率较高，新的购房出租投资者越来越倾向于选择收益率最高的地区，以确保投资收益。
Six of the 10 local authorities with the highest share of buy-to-let purchases are in the north of England. Sunderland tops the list, where 45 per cent of homes were bought by an investor during the first half of the year. Swindon, Enfield and Torbay are the only southern local authorities to make the top 10 list.
在买房出租比例最高的10个地方政府中，6个位于英格兰北部，其中桑德兰位居榜首，今年上半年有45%的房屋被投资者购买。斯温登、恩菲尔德和托尔贝是唯一进入前十名的南部地方政府。
Meanwhile, a new report from UK Finance found lending to landlords is significantly down — with the number of new loans in the first quarter of the year, at 12,400, less than half those granted in the last three months of 2022.
与此同时，英国财政(UK Finance)的一份新报告发现，向房东的贷款大幅下降——今年第一季度的新贷款数量为12,400笔，不到2022年最后三个月批准的一半。
Disincentives to invest have been compounded more recently by higher interest rates and political uncertainty around the threat of more rental reform
最近，更高的利率和围绕更多租赁改革威胁的政治不确定性进一步加剧了投资的不利因素
In fact, the buy-to-let mortgage market shrank for the first time, down 3 per cent year-on-year in the first three months of 2024 to 1.98mn outstanding loans.
事实上，买房出租抵押贷款市场在2024年前三个月首次出现萎缩，同比下降3%，未偿还贷款减少至198万笔。
The upward march of rental incomes seems relentless — ONS data this year pointed to some of the highest annual rental increases since 2015, especially in London. On the face of it, that spells opportunity.
租金收入的不断上涨似乎势不可挡——英国国家统计局(ONS)今年的数据显示，自2015年以来，尤其是在伦敦，年度租金涨幅达到了历史新高。从表面上看，这似乎是一个机会。
But that’s because landlords are still selling more properties than they’re buying, which is reducing the number of homes available to rent. This trend has held in each year since 2016, when the 3 per cent stamp duty surcharge on second home purchases was introduced. A year later, the ability of individual landlords to offset mortgage payments against tax bills began to be phased out. These changes increased the cost of purchasing an investment property and reduced the profitability of many existing mortgaged buy-to-lets.
但这是因为房东出售的房产数量仍然多于他们购买的数量，这导致了可供出租的房屋数量减少。自2016年对购买第二套住房征收3%的印花税附加费以来，这一趋势每年都在持续。一年后，个人房东抵扣按揭付款的税收优惠开始逐步取消。这些变化增加了购买投资性房产的成本，并降低了许多现有按揭购房出租的盈利能力。
Aneisha Beveridge, head of research at estate agent Hamptons, says: “Tax and regulatory changes introduced since 2016 have been the main culprit, but these disincentives to invest have been compounded more recently by higher interest rates and political uncertainty around the threat of more rental reform.”
汉普顿斯的研究主管阿内莎•贝弗里奇表示：“自2016年以来引入的税收和监管变化是主要原因，但最近更高的利率和围绕租赁改革威胁的政治不确定性使投资的冷淡情绪更加严重。”
That episode of Homes Under the Hammer was recorded in July 2022. Since then interest rates have risen. Inflation has meanwhile increased the pain of repairs and replacements. Plus, the renters’ rights bill was finally announced in the King’s Speech last week, including measures to protect tenants from unscrupulous private landlords and abolish the “no fault” arrangement for evicting tenants.
这期《锤子下的家园》节目录制于2022年7月。从那时起，利率一直在上升。同时，通货膨胀加剧了维修和更换的成本。此外，上周国王的演讲中终于宣布了租户权利法案，其中包括保护租户免受不良私人房东的侵害，并废除了对租户的“无过错”驱逐安排。
The Conservatives had been lining the legislation up, but some landlords fear Labour will press ahead without providing resources for the already log-jammed courts system. Plus, there are fears that Labour will put up capital gains tax rates on property sales.
保守党一直在推动这项立法，但一些房东担心工党将在不为已经积压的法院系统提供资源的情况下继续推进。此外，还有担忧认为工党可能会提高房产销售的资本利得税率。
London is leading the rise in private renting across England, due to high house prices and, more recently, higher mortgage costs: The Mortgage Works, the buy-to-let lending arm of Nationwide, found close to one in three (30 per cent) households opt to rent privately in the capital, nearly double the rest of England.
由于高房价和最近抵押贷款成本的上升，伦敦正在引领英格兰私人租赁市场的增长：全国抵押贷款协会(Nationwide)旗下的买房出租贷款部门The Mortgage Works发现，在首都有近三分之一（30%）的家庭选择私人租赁，这一比例几乎是英格兰其他地区的两倍。
But given the financial pressures faced by renters — and the real prospect they will hit their ceiling of affordability — buy-to-let is a precarious source of income for landlords.
但鉴于租户面临的财务压力，以及他们可能触及支付能力上限的真实可能性，对房东而言，买来出租是一种不稳定的收入来源。
The average tenant spends more than a third of their monthly wage on rental payments, and one in five spends over half, according to rental services provider Canopy. But insurance broker Lifesearch found 74 per cent of renters are without the safety net of income protection, insurance that can cover their essential outgoings if they are unable to work through sickness, injury or redundancy. That’s a missing vital assurance for landlords, which would otherwise ensure consistent rental income even in times of tenant hardship.
根据租房服务提供商Canopy的数据，租户平均每月要花费超过三分之一的工资支付租金，其中五分之一的租户支付超过一半。但保险经纪公司Lifesearch发现，74%的租户没有收入保障保险，这种保险能在租户因病、伤或被裁员而无法工作时支付其必要开支。这对房东来说是一个缺失的重要保障，本可以在租户经济困难时保证稳定的租金收入。
If you’re a professional landlord who can diversify between properties, regions and tenants, the sector may feel less risky.
如果您是一位能够在不同物业、地区和租户之间进行多元化经营的专业房东，这个行业的风险可能会显得较低。
But for many, buy-to-let had become the British dream, with individuals using property as their retirement portfolio. So a third of landlords only have one property, many of whom are probably relying on the income for their “pension”.
但对许多人来说，买房出租已成为英国人的梦想，他们将房产作为退休投资组合。因此，三分之一的房东只有一套房产，其中许多人可能依赖这笔收入作为他们的“养老金”。
Faced with an increased workload, lower margins and uncertainty about whether they can continue to make decent money despite the increase in rents, many will be wondering why they should bother.
面对工作量增加、利润下降以及租金上涨后是否能继续赚取体面收入的不确定性，许多人会思考，为什么还要继续努力呢？
There are still attractive lower-risk and lower-effort options for their money — more than 5 per cent in a savings account, for example.
对于他们的资金来说，仍然存在一些低风险、低投入且具有吸引力的选择——例如，储蓄账户中超过5%的利率。
The top rates are 5.2 per cent on an easy access Isa with Trading 212 or 5.37 per cent on a 95-day notice account with OakNorth Bank. Savings accounts with Principality Building Society and First Direct (existing customers only) pay 8 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively.
易存取ISA账户的最高利率为5.2%，由Trading 212提供；95天通知账户的最高利率为5.37%，由OakNorth Bank提供。Principality Building Society和First Direct（仅限现有客户）的储蓄账户分别支付8%和7%的利率。
For those who can stomach more risk, a portfolio of shares and funds is a good home for a property sale lump sum. Porthos says: “They really should be thinking about Isas and unit trusts.”
对于那些能够承受更多风险的人来说，股票和基金组成的投资组合是房产销售一次性款项的好去处。Porthos表示：“他们真的应该考虑Isas和单位信托基金。”
With the future looking bleak for both tenants and landlords, it’s time to put big warnings on property programmes that don’t represent reality, given tax changes and falling yields. “Savings under the Scanner” might not be so watchable, but it’s less of a fantasy for those who aren’t professionals like Charlie and Harry.
鉴于税收变化和收益率下降，租户和房东的前景都显得黯淡，是时候在那些不符合现实的房地产节目上加上重要警告了。《扫描下的储蓄》可能不那么吸引人，但对于像查理和哈里这样的非专业人士来说，它更接近现实，而不是幻想。
Moira O’Neill is a freelance money and investment writer. Email moira.o’[email protected], X: @MoiraONeill, Instagram @MoiraOnMoney