In Q1 2024 there were 41,149 new buy-to-let loans advanced in the UK, worth £7.0 billion, according to trade association UK finance. This was down 16.7% by number and 17.3% by value, compared with the same quarter in the previous year.
TMW’s senior manager of buy-to-let mortgages, Joe Avarne, does believe, though, that the market is stabilising. “Higher interest rates coupled with high inflation have undoubtably been the key challenges for landlords over the last 18 months, eroding, or in some cases, wiping out profitability and inhibiting market activity,” Avarne (pictured left) told Mortgage Introducer.
“The consistent feedback we hear from landlords is the strain caused by the last several years of regulation and tax changes, coupled with higher interest rates, is limiting their ability to invest in properties which ultimately results in a worse situation for tenants. The volatility of the last 18 months, and subsequent pressure on landlord finances, has really demonstrated the value of the whole of market advice that a broker provides.”
He continued: “An additional challenge has been a growing anti-landlord sentiment, with an increasing politicisation of the private rental sector in the context of the wider housing market, fuelled by examples of poor quality, substandard housing.”
The lender, which has this week cut its rates on various products by up to 0.45 percentage points, has publicly committed to ensuring that 100% of its new lending meets the government’s Decent Homes Standard.