Lenders accepting limited company applications up 47% – Mortgages for Business

The number of mortgage products available to landlords borrowing via a limited company has more than doubled since Q3 2017 from 263 to 628, according to the latest Mortgages for Business’ Buy to Let Index.

In the last quarter three new lenders have come to the market, including West Bromwich Building Society and Magellan Homeloans, with 22 now competing in the space.

An average of 1,571 products were available between July and September, up slightly from the 1,547 typically available in the previous three months.

In terms of proportions of the mortgage market, 44% of completed buy-to-let mortgage transactions were made by limited companies, up 42% from the previous quarter.

Remortgaging dominant

The trend for remortgaging continued with only one-third of buy to let mortgage transactions being made for purchases. The only property type seeing an increase in transactions were houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), where 36% of transactions were purchases, up from 33%.

Around 96% of landlords borrowing via Mortgages for Business opted for a fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage in Q3 2108, up from 93% in the previous quarter, while 73% of those choosing to fix opted for five years.

Steve Olejnik, managing director at Mortgages for Business (pictured), said: “With the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the possibility of another bank rate rise in the near future, I am not surprised that the majority of landlords are choosing to fix. It will be interesting to see what knock-on effect this will have on the buy to let remortgage market.”