Demand for housing does not necessarily equate to demand for rental property. I'm sure you would agree.Take landlords out of the equation. Renters cannot get a deposit together.
How do you fix that issue?
Rent is based on supply and demand.
I can't just jack up rents by £500 a month. Tenants would find somewhere cheaper to rent.
Otherwise I'd jack them all up by £500.
How can I take BTL out of a discussion about the effect of BTL on the housing market?
Some people might "prefer" to rent - at least one person in this thread has indicated that they do. Does every renter desire to pay more in rent than they would pay in mortgage repayments for the same property? I don't think anyone sane believes this.
I thought you were saying that a deposit is really easy to get - borrow it from friends and family? Now you're arguing the other way?
BTL influences property prices too. By snapping up housing they actually inflate demand themselves.
Also the situation where a BTL mortgage is easier to get?
Or the situation where a BTL landlord outbids a first-time-buyer?
BTL landlords aren't buying houses to satisfy a need for a roof over their heads. They're buying it because it's a "safe" investment, and a great "income stream".
You might be a good landlords but there are countless abusing BTL landlords who provide no service, pure exploitation.
But all BTL landlords are distorting the housing market by the very fact of their participation in it. Let's say that they exacerbate a problem.
And also let's say that if there wasn't a problem, BTL landlords would not be interested. BTL is a response to a problem - but it's an exploitative response.
Like the people who tried to buy up all the PPE and re-sell it for profit. They wouldn't have been interested in the PPE without the spike in demand. They responded to that spike - and made things worse in doing so.
That is the essence of BTL in the current climate. A response to a problem - and one which makes the problem worse for first time buyers.