It is a very different situation in the buy-to-let market, which is dominated by interest-only borrowing.
BDRC Continental’s latest Landlords Panel survey indicates that nine out of 10 landlords have at least one interest-only loan across their portfolio, while just 11% reported they had only repayment products.
Typically our respondents claim to have an average of 13 years remaining on their loan term.
Given the massive contribution being made by interest-only to the private rental sector, how do landlords plan to settle their debts at the end of the repayment term? Sell, sell, sell seems to be the solution.
Almost three quarters (72%) of interest-only buy-to-let landlords told us that they plan to sell the property as a settlement solution, hopefully pocketing a nice capital gain into the bargain. Other repayment strategies include mortgage over-payment (usually smaller landlords) and the use of cash savings (mentioned by 21% each).
Further down the solutions list, around one in seven landlords talked about switching to a repayment product downstream or releasing invested assets to meet their debt.
Just 3% of the 700+ buy-to-let customers interviewed reported that they ‘didn’t know’ how they were going to repay the capital on their borrowings.
On this basis, buy-to-let lenders should be reassured that, unlike their interest-only residential counterparts, the vast majority of landlords have given significant thought to meeting their obligations.
Mark Long is director of BDRC Continental
