The weather might be rubbish and the property market bleak, but the buy to let market is booming and landlords are now faced with an even greater array of mortgage products compared to the same time last year. In fact, according to one financial information website, there are approximately one hundred more buy to let mortgage products available to would-be landlords, and thanks to the increasing level of competition in the buy to let marketplace, lenders are being forced to cut their interest rates in order to attract new customers.
This situation is a far cry from when the credit crunch peaked: back then, lenders withdrew many of their buy to let products because the rental market was viewed as “high risk”, which meant that aspiring landlords had very little choice when they wanted to invest or re-mortgage. Thankfully things have improved a great deal since then and lenders are beginning to recognise the potential of the current UK buy to let market, but experts are warning that this may well change over the coming months and lenders are likely to tighten up their lending criteria.
However, for the time being, property investors and landlords are faced with an almost overwhelming choice of mortgage products, both in the high street and from specialist buy to let lenders, and many of the large financial institutions are promising to further increase their percentage of mortgage lending in the buy to let sector. So with ever increasing numbers of people renting as opposed to buying, the future looks bright for buy to let.
