With the recent volatility in the stock market many market commentators are advising that investments in equities should potentially be reduced. One potential alternative is to invest in a buy to let property.

The buy to let sector has grown at a great pace over the last few years, and has been accompanied by increasing house prices. These increasing house prices has made it harder to find worthwhile buy to let investments. Because of higher prices, it is harder to find a property to rent out where the monthly rental income covers the higher mortgage repayments. One option worth serious consideration is renting to students.

In university towns the demand for fairly priced rental accommodation from students can be high in the right area. More importantly to the landlord student don't mind, in fact they often prefer to share a house with many friends. What this means to the landlord is they can often have more students living in a house than if they were renting to professionals. In addition landlords renting to students usually charge a weekly amount per person, so if you can squeeze in an extra bedroom in place of a dining room your monthly rental income will tend to be higher than if renting to a family or professionals.

Another benefit of having a student buy to let is that students tend to have slightly lower wishes when it comes to the standard of decoration and fixtures and fittings. this can mean you need to spend less money decorating the internal spaces to a very high standard.

However there are some drawbacks to student letting. Generally students won't stay in the same property for more than one year an there will be a period each summer where the property is empty in between educational years. Depending on demand you may be able to charge students a retainer of say 'half-rent' over this period. In addition student may take slightly less care of the property than older tenants would meaning that you may have to spend more each summer on repairs and re-painting. That said the usual advice is as with any buy to let, try to pop in on your tenants every month or so to ensure the place is not being damaged more than the expected wear and tear.

All in all letting a buy to let to students can be a great way for landlords to increase rental yield to offset higher mortgage repayments, especially in the current climate of high house prices.