This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
The amount of buy-to-let mortgage deals available dropped by over a quarter in April, found the latest Buy-to-Let Product Index.
Mortgages for Business found that 609 buy-to-let mortgages were available last month, down from a high of 863 in March.
Amount of Buy-to-Let Mortgages Down
31 different lenders offered the deals, and there are a few reasons why the total available mortgages decreased by 254.
One possible reason is that there was a break in between lenders taking products off the market and launching new ones.
The study also indicates that competition in the market caused providers to remove some products so that operation could run smoothly during periods of high demand.
Of all the buy-to-let mortgages available, 46% were at 75% loan-to-value (LTV), up from 38% in March and 40% in February.
Higher LTV deals were offered, but these came with tougher conditions and cost more to the borrower.
9% of products had 80% LTV and 1% were at 85% LTV.
Fixed rate and tracker mortgages were similarly priced, however fixed rates were seemingly more competitive.
Mortgages for Business found that fixed rate two, three, or five-year deals offered better rates than trackers, especially at low LTV ratios.
Monthly figures indicate that fixed rates grew between March and April, from 3.53% to 4.02% for a two-year, 4.46% to 4.82% for a three-year, and 4.38% to 4.83% for a five-year.
Tracker buy-to-let mortgages also increased, with five-year rates up from 4.11% in March to 4.85% in April.
Two and three-year trackers also rose from 3.93% to 5.08%, and from 3.39% to 3.81% correspondingly. These numbers are averages and do not include fees.
