'Difficult to track' buy to let mortgage trends

15 April 2010

Written by Gavin Elley

Buy to let mortgages could have increased in February, with a 12 per cent rise noted for the number of loans advanced for the purchase of a house.

A new report from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed a marked improvement from mortgages given in January, which was hampered by the severe winter weather and end of the stamp duty exemption.

The stamp duty holiday affected home mover activity less, with the number of transactions up 11 per cent on January, while an increase in value of six per cent was discovered.

Buy to let mortgages which are fixed-rate could be less popular than tracker alternatives because of the historically low interest rate of 0.5 per cent, the findings suggested.

"The start of the year is traditionally a quiet period for mortgage lending," said CML head of research Bob Pannell, adding it is "hard to identify clear trends in recent months" because of the weather and the end of 2009's stamp duty break.

Once a mortgage has been secured, buy to let lenders have been advised by the National Landlords Association to ensure they carry out background checks on tenants to minimise the risk of late payments.

Why not take a look at our best Buy to Let mortgages and make an enquiry online now.