Two lenders have announced their entry into the booming buy-to-let mortgage market, which more than half of intermediaries have seen a business increase in over the last three months.
TSB Intermediary stated today (13 May) that it will initially offer five-year buy-to-let deals, available up to 75 per cent loan-to-value, with a maximum loan size of £500,000 and a maximum of four applicants.
The buy-to-let and homeowner mortgages will operate under one brand, meaning brokers will contact the same team and the same business development manager they already have relationships with.
Roland McCormack, TSB’s mortgage intermediary director, said: “Brokers have been asking when we’ll offer buy-to-let mortgages for some time now and we’re pleased to be able to fulfill that demand.”
Meanwhile, East Midlands-based building society the Melton has re-entered the buy-to-let market by launching three new products.
Melton’s director of sales and marketing Nicola Alvarez, said the decision follows feedback both from intermediaries and customers.
The holiday buy-to-let deal comes at a rate of 3.35 per cent and 60 per cent LTV, while the family buy-to-let deal is priced at 3.75 per cent and 75 per cent LTV, and the standard deal has a rate of 2.79 per cent and 60 per cent LTV.
Meanwhile, a survey from Natwest Intermediary Solutions with over 500 mortgage intermediaries found that 58 per cent had seen an increase in buy-to-let business in the last three months, with only only 1 in 20 saying that they had seen a drop. Just over a quarter said that it had remained static.
Looking forward to the next six months, it appears that the market still has room to grow, with 54 per cent expecting to do more buy-to-let business than the last six months, while only 4 per cent were expecting to do less. A third forecasted that their buy-to-let business will remain stable.
Furthermore, recent data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, published in April, revealed that buy-to-let was the only sector to see an increase in annual lending and lending values.
Graham Felstead, head of Natwest Intermediary Solutions, said the firm has an appetite to grow its presence in this area of the mortgage market.
“The buy-to-let market is one where we have made great strides in the last couple of years,” he commented.
“We have focused specifically on non-professional landlords with small portfolios – an area of the market where there has been significant growth and one that is expected to continue to be buoyant as more people turn to property as a viable investment alternative to traditional pension arrangements.”
peter.walker@ft.com
