Despite the buy-to-let market remaining very subdued, CML figures showed Q2 2010 figures for the sector were 15% higher than the same period last year.
The value of buy-to-let lending in Q2 2010 was £2.4bn, of which £1bn was remortgaging. The second quarter figures were up from £2.1bn in Q1 this year.
While buy-to-let business is only just over a quarter of the levels seen three years ago, CML figures show that both the number and value of buy-to-let loans are at their highest level since Q4 2008, apart from the last quarter of 2009 when the market was artificially inflated by the end of the Stamp Duty holiday.
Michael Coogan, director-general of the CMl, said: “The buy-to-let market has continued to grow, albeit slowly, throughout the period since the credit crunch.
“With fewer people able to afford the entry costs to home-ownership, as well as the pressure on social housing, tenant demand for private rented property will remain strong.
“Finance for private landlords, whether institutional or individual, is crucial if the UK is to have enough homes to meet the needs of the population. Funding conditions for lenders remain tight, but there is every reason to expect the buy-to-let sector to continue to make a powerful contribution to helping meet the country’s varied housing needs.”
At the end of June this year, there were 1.26m buy-to-let mortgages outstanding, worth a total of £149bn.
By value, buy-to-let mortgages accounted for 12% of all mortgages, the highest proportion since records began.
Buy-to-let arrears have also significantly improved, but repossession rates remain higher than the owner-occupied market, in part due to the extended forbearance lenders have extended to home buyers to prevent them losing their homes.
