Strong Recovery For Buy-To-Let Mortgage Lending

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, lenders advanced 40,000 mortgages worth £5.1bn to buy-to-let investors in the second quarter of 2013. These numbers represent the highest quantity of buy-to-let loans and the highest value of lending recorded since the third quarter of 2008.

The number of loans advanced in Q2 was 19% higher by volume and 21% by value than in Q1, when lenders advanced 33,500 mortgages worth £4.2bn, making this recovery very sudden. In fact, Q1 2013 wasn’t all that different from Q2 2012, when lenders advanced 33,600 mortgages worth £3.9bn.

Roughly half of the BTL loans advanced were for house purchase, increasing 15% by volume and 19% by value over Q1. But the growth in remortgaging proved to be stronger, increasing 24% by volume and 29% by value over the same period.

CML head of policy Jackie Bennett said, “Strong rental demand is contributing to the continuing expansion of the buy-to-let sector, but growth is also being helped by improved conditions in funding markets and more widespread availability of mortgages.

“These conditions are creating more opportunities for landlords to remortgage, as well as helping to fund increased activity in the mortgage market more generally.”

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