This will probably make a few of you lot hate me, but I'll post it anyway... I have a few rental properties in Southampton. A couple of them I bought back in 2007 with just a 15% deposit. I bought off plan and got a reduced price for buying two flats at the same time. Anyone could get mortgages back then, just needed to find a deposit and developed were working out deals for returning deposits on completion. It was the crazy days of buy to let which we will never see again - securing flats for £1 - that's unheard of these days. I took a gamble on lifetime base rate tracker mortgages... I was predicting a rate reduction, but didn't ever imagine it would come down as far as it has. As the base rate came down, so did my mortgages but rental prices continued to rise steadily (I've never put anyone's rent up, I just increase when new tenants move in). Monthly mortgage payment is now about 170 per flat (interest only) but becaue I keep the flats in excellent condition I can charge top market rate. Suffice to say you certainly couldn't rent a flat of the same standard in the center of Southampton for 170pcm.. ......