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Buy-to-let market sees strong start to 2017
This article is an external press release originally published on the Landlord News website, which has now been migrated to the Just Landlords blog.
It is widely acknowledged that 2016 was not the best for buy-to-let landlords, The raft of changes impacting on the sector, including the additional Stamp Duty surcharge and Right to Rent, saw many investors deterred from purchasing more properties.
However, 2017 seems to have started more positively, with more landlords looking to add to their property portfolios.
Surge
The latest mortgage lending figures from Fleet Mortgages indicate that there has been a surge in demand from buy-to-let landlords trying to add to their existing properties. There were 21,000 buy-to-let loans issued during November, up 13% on October, with this trend expected to continue.
Bob Young, chief executive of Fleet Mortgages, said: ‘Overall, the market has kicked off strongly at the start of 2017 and we’ve seen a considerable amount of demand and interest from advisors on behalf of buy-to-let investors.’[1]
‘We’ve seen over the course of the last 12 months the increase in demand for limited company products, particularly when it comes to new purchases, however many landlord borrowers continue to hold their existing properties in their individual names and it’s therefore important that we continue to offer competitive products in this space,’ he continued.[1]
Demand
In order to meet growing demand, Fleet Mortgages has moved to launch five products across both its individual and limited company buy-to-let ranges.
For limited companies, the lender has launched an 80% LTV 2 year fix at 4.39%. In addition, there are two lifetimes trackers at 4.2% to 75% LTV and 4% to 65% LTV. These products also come with a 1.5% fee.
Individual products include a 2 year fix at 3.79% to 80% LTV and 4% 75% LTV tracker, both requiring a 1% fee.
Buy-to-let market sees strong to 2017
Tougher
Despite the rise in demand for buy-to-let properties, Mr Young feels there is growing frustration at the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee’s decision to bring in harder mortgage affordability tests.
‘One thing we are aware of however is the increased frustration around many lenders’ rent to income calculations, their ever-changing criteria, plus major difficulties when it comes to finding products on sourcing systems and being able to compare like-for-like,’ Young concluded.[1]
[1] https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2017/1/strong-start-to-the-year-for-buy-to-let-market
