Derbyshire attributed the rise to interest in the society’s three-month Swiss Libor and Euro Libor tracker mortgages, which sees the repayment rate linked to interest rates.
Tony Capon, head of sales at Derbyshire ISU, admitted evidence of a BTL boom allayed any fears about a weakening market as a result of Gordon Brown’s SIPPS u-turn. He said: “The Derbyshire continues to be bullish about the future of BTL, despite recent forecasts of a slowdown in the sector and our BTL mortgage completion figures for the final quarter of 2005, in particular December, clearly undermines this point.”
He added that despite an over-supply of city centre properties he expected 2006 to be another prosperous year for property investors in the buy-to-let sector.
With the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) indicating a rise in interest in the BTL market in 2005 Martin Wade, director at Mortgage Options, agreed the sector would continue to grow this year and welcomed the market revival.
He said: “Having seen a definite slowdown in the buy-to-let market over the last two years we are now witnessing a revival in the number of landlords refinancing their portfolios ahead of further purchases.
“Despite a revival in the stock market, buy-to-let remains an attractive investment vehicle as it provides the opportunity to significantly increase their exposure by gearing up capital and borrowing to invest via a mortgage.”
