UK House Prices -The next bubble waiting to burst ??

tanners -"I find this difficult to believe.....they're renting their current properties and buying new ones."

I would have done too but about 18 months ago I went to a local new build site (good quality 3 bed detatched) to get some kitchen design and presentation ideas. The lady site rep told me that one third of their buyers were 'older people who were downsizing' and who were raising a mortgage and moving in but renting their, presumably now, mortgage free previous property. The market was fairly buoyant at the time so I imagine the BTLing was by choice (and they would get a better mortgage interest rate this way rahter than one raised on a BTL mortgage).