Buy-to-letSep 18 2019

Robo-broker expands into limited company products

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Robo-broker expands into limited company products
Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg

Online mortgage broker Habito has announced an expansion of its mortgage range with a collection of limited company buy-to-let products.

The new range is available at two-, three-, five-, seven- and 10-year fixed rates and from 65 per cent to 80 per cent loan-to-value.

Rates on two-year fixed products start at 2.59 per cent for a 60 per cent LTV and rise to 4.44 per cent for a 10-year fixed at 80 per cent LTV.

Other rates in the range — available exclusively through Habito’s adviser service — include a five-year fixed, 70 per cent LTV, at 3.64 per cent and and a three-year fixed at 2.99 per cent for those with a 25 per cent deposit.

The robo-adviser first entered the mortgage market in July with an individual buy-to-let offering after receiving a £500m investment from an “institutional backer”.

At the time, the broker firm promised to more than halve the industry’s standard time to mortgage offer of 21 days and announced today it had “made good” on the pledge.

Habito now aims to deliver a ‘10-day time to offer’ service by using technology and fast-track underwriting in a bid to serve buy-to-let mortgage applicants “better than ever before”.

Daniel Hegarty, founder and chief executive of Habito, said: “In spite of uncertain political and economic times, financing a buy-to-let property through a limited company is proving to be a very appealing route for a growing number of landlords. 

“Clearly competitive rates and value for money, operating costs and yields are the key drivers for property investments, but we’re seeing more and more demand for mortgage offers with speed, innovation and certainty - something we’re proud to be taking a lead on at Habito.”

Just last month research showed purchasing a buy-to-let property through limited companies was now more than twice as popular as buying as an individual.

According to advisers, this was primarily because landlords were seeking out the most tax efficient methods following the abolition of mortgage interest tax relief for landlords.

Due to the tax shake up, limited company status is more attractive to landlords as changes would not affect them and they can offset mortgage interest against profits which are subject to corporation tax instead of income tax rates, which is cheaper.

The firm also announced it will debut its Mortgage Terms and Conditions, written in partnership with consumer group Fairer Finance, which aims to remove all jargon from mortgage contracts.

imogen.tew@ft.com

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