Buyers are returning to the housing market slowly but surely and yet the buy to let market is expected to continue to have a high demand from renters.  Despite the abundance of affordable mortgage products on the market there are many hopeful home buyers that will continue to find it difficult to get approval for a loan.  Renting will be a way of life for many households for years to come despite the desire to climb onto the property ladder.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders landlords continue to add rental properties to the supply of available rentals.  Mortgage lending increased to landlords in the first three months of the year by £500 million in comparison to last year.  There was also a considerable increase over the number of buy to let loans in comparison to a decade ago.  There are 1.46 million buy to let loans in the UK and this is three times the number of loans to landlords 10 years ago.

David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said “The flow of first-time buyers is still barely a trickle, which is sending the excess demand directly into the rental sector and keeping yields high for BTL investors.”

Buy to let remortgages are still in high demand from landlords that seek affordable opportunities to add to their portfolios.

Mr. Whittaker added, "Rates and fees are down and there are increasing options for landlords looking to finance more complex deals. The funding for lending scheme, too, has helped by loosening the supply of credit to lenders, and they are passing the savings on to investors."