Paragon Mortgages’ first quarter 2005 survey reported the proportion of landlords expanding their portfolios rose from 39 per cent to 41 per cent while the number buying their first investment property declined from 27 per cent to 24 per cent. Remortgages arranged by brokers increased slightly, up 1 per cent to 29 per cent.
John Heron, managing director of Paragon Mortgages, said: “This growing level of landlord expertise is welcome from the lender’s point of view as it makes buy-to-let business safer and more sustainable, particularly as a landlord will only buy an additional property if they are having a satisfactory experience with their existing portfolio.”
Peter Charles, chief economist at Mortgage Express, said prospects for buy-to-let investors were looking better.
He said: “There is no doubting that prospects are better now than at any time in the past year. With the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voting to keep rates unchanged for a ninth consecutive month, it looks increasingly likely that rates have reached their peak and the next move will be downwards.
“Investors are increasingly confident that prices will rise in the medium to longer-term, while the risk of short-term losses has diminished.”
l Standard Life has changed its rental yield requirement calculation for loans up to 65 per cent LTV on its buy-to-let product. It is lowering the minimum rental income that a landlord of a buy-to-let property must meet each month to satisfy its lending criteria.
Alan Dring, head of sales at Standard Life Bank, said: “The buy-to-let market remains an important one and we hope these changes will make it easier for landlords with lower LTVs to take advantage of our buy-to-let proposition.”
