The lender, which will be headed up by a veteran buy-to-let management team – based in Fleet, Hampshire, is planning to target the specialist end of the buy-to-let market including HMO’s and professional landlords.
Former lender Capital Home Loans is also based in the same location and Fleet is now conducting a massive recruitment drive in the area.
A source inside the lender told Mortgage Introducer: “We have a very strong core of people who have been around the buy-to-let market for a very long time.
“We are looking to target the specialist end of the buy-to-let sector such as professional landlords and HMO’s.”
A number of lenders are currently looking to either enter or re-enter the buy-to-let mortgage space with the majority backed by private equity investors.
But Fleet Mortgages will be backed by a major global asset management firm and will not be be dependent on warehouse funding.
Our source said: “Fleet Mortgages is not going to be reliant on the capital markets for funding. The way we are going to do business will change the lending market in the UK. A lot of people will be keen to copy what we do.”
The entrance of a new player into the market has been welcomed by the industry.
David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said: “It is always good to see a new entrant to the market.
“It will be interesting to see if this new lender sticks to the specialist side of the market or ends up going towards other parts of the market.”
And one specialist distributor, who asked not to be named, added: “There are certainly some big black rocks being thrown around at the moment and it’s great to see our market thriving again. We more than welcome any new lenders – it’s great that finally it would appear that we are out of the doldrums and innovation is yet again key.”
Full details of the lenders management team and proposition will be revealed next week on Mortgage Introducer.
