According to a recent survey of private landlords in the UK, there is much more confidence in the private rental sector with regards to the outlook for 2010 than there was even one month ago. The survey shows that around 61% of private landlords in the UK feel confident about the current buy-to-let sector in general, a figure that is up on February’s figure of 57%.

Many reportedly feel that, although they are emphasising the increasingly positive mood within the private home rental sector, they also continue to underline such issue that remain concerns such as government funding as well as issues surrounding student accommodation.

Respondents also said that the market has shown recent positive signs that lending is making a comeback-which is a great sign-as this has been perhaps the biggest stumbling block of the last two years. Many respondents were, however, still worried about universities plans to build more accommodation on halls of residence, which may cause lowered demand for accommodation in the private rental sector.

Most respondents also wished to see an increase in levels of lending. Around 40% of respondents stated that they were currently feeling less confident than previously about the market conditions in general, and they largely ascribe their pessimism to the lack of lending. Respondents also went on to suggest that even the financing available to borrowers is simply too expensive and that the private rental sector also still contains far too many bad or unbalanced debts and regulations.

There are also widespread concerns about any future rises in interest rates. According to James Davis, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Upad, said that the latest survey marks the fourth month in a row since Upad launched the index that landlords have voiced their increasing confidence in the housing market.

He went on to say that it would be interesting to see how the coming months – and the forecoming capacity of UK banks to lend or not, especially if they would continue to stay true the historically low mortgage rates and allow good fixed-rate mortgages – would affect confidence in the sector. Mr Davis concluded by saying that he felt the results of the current survey appear to suggest that the market is regularly continuing to grow in strength.