Surge in buy to let mortgage products for companies, not individuals

The number of buy to let lenders lending to limited companies has risen by 47 per cent over the past year, with the speed of expansion accelerating. 

Mortgages for Business says that in the last quarter alone, three new lenders have come to the market with 22 now competing in the space. In the third quarter of last year there were only 15. 

As a result of these new lenders, there are more buy to let mortgage products in the market than ever before - 628. A year ago it was 263.

In the wider mortgage market, an average of 1,571 products were available between July and September, in contrast to just the previous quarter when the number of products averaged 1,547.

In terms of proportions of the mortgage market, 44 per cent of completed buy to let mortgage transactions were made by limited companies, up from 42 per cent from the previous quarter. 

Corporate structures have become increasingly popular since the changes in mortgage interest tax relief on landlords’ finance costs were announced in July 2015.

The trend for remortgaging continued with only one third of buy to let mortgage transactions being made for purchases. 

The only property seeing an increase in transactions was HMOs, accounting for 36 per cent - up from 33 per cent in the previous quarter.

“It’s been encouraging to see so many new entrants to the specialist end of the buy to let market in the last quarter, putting product availability at an all-time high. This just goes to show there is still a lucrative, buoyant market out there following on from the recent regulatory changes” explains Steve Olejnik, managing director at Mortgages for Business.