According to the Association of Residential Letting Agents’ (ARLA) latest research, double the number of agents reported that landlords were once again adding properties to their portfolios during the first quarter of 2009 than in late 2008.

In addition, letting agents found that fewer landlords are currently selling their existing properties than at the end of last year. This may signal a newfound hope that housing prices might have finally reached rock bottom.

According to Ian Potter, head of operations at ARLA, landlords with liquid cash have clearly realized that this represents the best time to find bargains, as property prices have decreased continuously over a period of 18 months.

Despite some reassuring news, many residential landlords still face major challenges and those with sizeable buy-to-let loans and vacancies often find themselves in a difficult predicament.

In fact, approximately one fifth of all ARLA agents indicated that at least one property under their management was repossessed on a weekly basis. A much smaller percentage of agents (5%) reported that they experienced two repossessions per week from among the properties in their care.