Property speculators are sparking a mini-property boom by snapping up cut-priced homes across Preston, Lancashire.
Estate agents in the city have reported a surge in the number of people buying up property as prices dropped by almost 20% in the past three months.
Phil Williamson, manager of Jones Cameron, said landlords had started to "buy heavily" in areas such as Plungington, Ashton and Deepdale with a view to cashing in on rising rents and to sell them at a profit when prices recover.
He believes the situation is set to return to where it was before the property boom, when investors were snapping up homes all over the city.
He said: "Five years ago I was stood in a terraced house in Plungington which was £60,000 and the people looking at it told me prices could not keep rising and now that same house is nearer £100,000.
"It ended up with the landlords being the winners because they were the ones who bought these properties cheaper and then were able to rent them out.
"The thing is that these kind of investors do not put money in if they do not think they will get it back, so long-term the smart money is on this only being a blip."
He added that some landlords who had been unable to rent out properties were also looking to offload homes, creating further movement in the market.
Fellow estate agent Richard Garside, of Garside Waddingham, said the drop in prices in Preston had been caused by an oversupply of cheap flats.
The average price of a home in Preston is £130,704, a drop of 7.3% on last year. South Ribble dropped 10.5% in the last quarter to £160,084 with Chorley rising 0.2% to £172,919 and Wyre down 2.4% to £170,568.
A study released by the Royal Institute of Chartered Accountants (RICS) showed an increase in the numbers of "predatory buyers", with buy-to-let investors taking advantage of rising rents.
>> Vote in our latest web poll
The full article contains 352 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
