Newsletter August 2008
We've launched our new look website!
We are pleased to announce the launch of our new look website - www.mortgagesforbusiness.co.uk - which has been given a complete overhaul and upgrade. We've now made it even easier for you to use and send your enquiries through to us hassle free.
Take advantage of:
- Market leading mortgage rates available due to our total market access
- Live rates - all our rates our now streamed live to our site so you always have the most up to date mortgage products available to you
- The latest industry news and developments
- Full explanations of all rates and terms to help you understand and find exactly what you're looking for.
Click here for Buy to Let, Commercial , Development Finance and Residential mortgage products.
CML publishes buy-to-let data
New buy-to-let lending declined in the first half of 2008, with the sector affected by the same conditions constraining the wider mortgage market, according to new data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
There were 144,600 new buy-to-let loans in the first half of 2008, down from 176,500 in the second half of 2007 and 169,500 in the first half of 2007. The shortage of mortgage funding has limited activity across the mortgage market including the buy-to-let sector, which has a significant number of lenders that rely on wholesale funding.
Despite that, the half-yearly decline has been lower than in the wider market, with the number of buy-to-let loans in the first half of 2008 decreasing by 18% from the second half of 2007, while the number of house purchase and remortgage loans in the wider market decreased by 28%.
The number of buy-to-let mortgages outstanding continues to rise: there are now 1,103,000 buy-to-let mortgages in the UK worth £132.5 billion. This is a rise of 19% by volume and 25% by value from a year ago. Buy-to-let mortgages represent 9% of the total number of UK mortgages outstanding and 11% of the value of mortgage stock. On average, lenders offered a maximum loan of 83% of the value of a property in the first half of 2008, down from 85% last year.
Arrears in the buy-to-let market are currently lower than in the wider mortgage market, with 1.1% of loans over three months in arrears (up from 0.73% in the second half of 2007 and 0.63% in the first half of 2007). This compares with 1.33% in the wider mortgage market. The proportion of buy-to-let mortgages taken into possession is the same as the wider market, at 0.16%.That equates to around 1,800 properties out of a total of more than one million mortgages outstanding.
Some landlords are encountering higher mortgage rates, as a result of the credit crunch, while being unable to increase rents in the short term.
CML director general, Michael Coogan, said:
“The shortage of mortgage funding is creating similar problems for buy-to-let landlords as it is for other borrowers. However, we expect the rental market to remain underpinned by strong demand, partly because some people who would like to buy a home are being forced to carry on renting for now.”
Click here for Buy to Let, Commercial , Development Finance and Residential mortgage products.
RICS residential lettings survey
• Tenant demand booms but is outpaced by new landlord instructions
• Landlord sales fall due to improved cash flow position and weaker housing market activity
• Activity in the housing area outperforms flats
In the three months to July, the wider housing market stagnation has compelled increasing numbers of would-be house buyers and sellers to seek refuge in the rental market. Those unable to obtain mortgage finance are opting to rent in the meantime, and this has had the concomitant effect of enticing more would-be home sellers to becomelandlords. As a result, activity in the residential lettings market is booming.
Read the full report here.
Click here for Buy to Let, Commercial , Development Finance and mortgage products.
