Insurance News Archive

CML: Record borrowing by buy-to-let investors

More than £17.5 billion was borrowed by buy-to-let investors in the first half of 2006, according to recent data collated by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The council estimates that the 152,000 loans which were advanced during this period contributed to an increase of 17 per cent by volume and 20 per cent by value over the previous record totals of 2005.

Contrasting to the slower increase in lending in the wider market, the residential investment mortgage market now accounts for eight per cent of the value of outstanding UK lending, compared to seven per cent in the first half of 2005.

The CML's survey also found that the typical underwriting criteria in the buy-to-let market remained, with an average maximum loan-to-value ratio of 85 per cent and lenders requiring rental income to exceed mortgage payments by at least 25 per cent.

Michael Coogan, CML director general, explained that the market remained "robust" and was "underpinned by strong rental demand".

27 Sep 2006