YORK'S housing boom could be set for another surge, according to a new survey.

At the Property Investor Show North in Manchester, 62 per cent of surveyed landlords believed that the north of England was a future "hotspot" area for the buy-to-let market.

Nick Clark, managing director of Homebuyer Events, organisers of the Property Investor Show North, said: "It is well known that the majority of landlords have traditionally resided in the south of England, but the tide looks set to turn with almost two-thirds expecting future investment hotspots to be in the north.

"With over 90 per cent planning to expand their portfolios this year, the northern buy-to-let market looks set to remain very buoyant."

But estate agents in York said they had not yet seen a significant increase in southern landlords investing in the city.

Kevin Hollinrake, director of Hunter's Estate Agents, said the buy-to-let market was still very strong, but had relaxed slightly over the past six months.

Meanwhile, findings from the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) reveal that few buy-to-let investors are showing signs of wanting to sell up, despite speculation about a housing market slump. According to the survey, the number of landlords in Yorkshire and the Humber who had decided to sell their properties rather than re-let them had risen slightly from 12 to 14 per cent up between January and April this year.

It also found that rental prices in the north - currently averaging £434 a month in Yorkshire and Humberside - looked set to drop. Peter Moody, partner at Hudson Moody estate agents, said: "Rents have really done very, very little over the past few years - I wouldn't think they are likely to drop.

"I'm not finding a huge growth of southern investment buyers."

But he said: "I have certainly been to value noticeably more let properties this year than I did last year.

"I think there's a lot of landlords getting a bit jittery and thinking about jumping ship - but they aren't jumping ship yet. I think they are weighing up their options."

Updated: 10:46 Tuesday, June 01, 2004