Massive drop in buy-to-let figures

May 27, 2017 by Brendan O'Neill

Property Market

House purchases for buy-to-let have plunged by almost 80% during March 2017, in comparison with 2016 figures.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) released the figures, gathered from lenders, which show that £900 million was borrowed by landlords during March, which is 79.5% lower than last year. However, the CML stated that the flurry of purchases in 2016 was due to investors in buy-to-let who were trying to avoid the new stamp duty tax changes introduced in April 2016. CML’s director general, Paul Smee, said that overall lending trends had remained consistent.

In sharp contrast, home movers and first time buyers had increased activity, with first time buyer purchases increasing by 29% in March, borrowing £4.9 billion. In comparison with March 2016, first time buyer purchases had increased by 9%.

Although home movers had increased purchases in March 2017 by 19% in comparison to February, overall purchases had fallen by 33% compared to March 2016. The number of people re-mortgaging their property had also increased, by 13% more than February and 22% more year on year.

Despite encouraging figures, the CML stated that house purchases during the first three months of 2017 had been at their weakest in the last two years. Re-mortgages had reached their highest level since 2009, with 106,700 homeowner loans being approved during the first quarter of 2017.

CeMAP qualified mortgage advisers help all buyers to find the most suitable deals, so that they can buy their first home, re-mortgage or move to another home.