BTL figures keep downward slope

The CML said there were 22,400 new buy-to-let mortgages advanced in the first quarter, down from 38,000 in the fourth quarter of last year and 72,400 in the first quarter of the same year.

Buy-to-let accounted for just 6 per cent of all gross mortgage lending in the first quarter, down from 12 per cent a year earlier.

Adrian Kidd, IFA for London-based Unleash Advice Partnership, said: "The buy-to-let numbers are still ugly but lenders are simply not making any aggressive moves yet here and I do not expect this to change any time soon.

"Any lender brave enough to make a move and make good lending decisions based on risk should get a large piece of the market."

Meanwhile repossessions climbed by more than 50 per cent during the first quarter of the year, but the CML said its predictions of 75,000 repossessions this year now looked overly pessimistic.

The trade body stated some 12,800 properties were repossessed by first-charge lenders during the three months to the end of March, up from 8500 a year earlier.

Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, said: "It is clear that mortgage arrears continued to increase. So did repossessions, but not as much as our 75,000 forecast figure for the year would suggest."

Mr Kidd said: "The repossession figures come as no real surprise but my concern about the figures would be going forward. We have had significant changes in income support for mortgage interest rules and lenders are supposed to be helping consumers more than ever to avoid being repossessed."

But the repossession figures angered Sarah Teather, housing spokesman for the Liberal Democrats, who said: "Mortgage law needs urgent reform to give courts the power to ensure that repossessions are only ever a last resort."