Insurance News Archive
Lending continues in buy-to-let market
Lending to buy-to-let investors increased at the end of last year despite reports of instability in the housing market, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revealed.
Buy-to-let lending totalled £24.1 billion in the second half of 2007, an increase from £21.2 billion in the first half of the year, reports the CML.
The second half of the year saw the number of loans, including remortgages, rise to 179,100, from 171,800 in the first half of the year.
Outstanding buy-to-let mortgages passed the one million mark, reaching 1,038,000 at the end of 2007 - nearly 23 per cent higher than the year before.
"Tenant demand for private rented property remains strong and buy-to-let is fulfilling an important role in helping to deliver an increased flow of high quality homes to rent," said Michael Coogan, CML director general.
"Buy-to-let has remained resilient in the face of the funding constraints that have affected the sector and the wider mortgage market," he added.
On average, at the end of 2007 lenders had an 85 per cent maximum on the percentage of the value of the property that they were willing to advance, and required rental income to amount to 120 per cent of the required mortgage payment.
Peter Williams, executive director of the Intermediary Mortgages Lenders Association said the "figures indicate that the buy-to-let market remains buoyant".
27 Feb 2008
