The data covers the buy to let market in 2018, with Lloyds Banking Group named as the biggest lender, with a gross balance of £50.97bn outstanding, equivalent to a market share of 20.3 per cent.
However, Lloyds’s balance over the period was down from the £52.51bn reported in 2017.
Here is how the top 10 shaped up according to the UK Finance data:
| Lender | Gross outstanding balance (£bn) | Market share |
| Lloyds Banking Group | 50.97 | 20.3 per cent |
| Nationwide BS | 31.16 | 12.4 per cent |
| Barclays | 16.53 | 6.6 per cent |
| Coventry BS | 15.72 | 6.3 per cent |
| Virgin Money | 14.57 | 5.8 per cent |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | 12.87 | 5.1 per cent |
| Topaz Finance | 10.32 | 4.1 per cent |
| Paragon Group | 10.31 | 4.1 per cent |
| Santander UK | 8.27 | 3.3 per cent |
| Bank of Ireland | 7.47 | 3 per cent |
UK Finance noted that gross buy-to-let lending jumped to £40.5bn in 2018, up by 5.5 per cent on the year before.
It highlighted that with 53 lenders covered in its tables for gross lending, it was clear that “competition in the sector is strong, despite tax changes for landlords and regulatory interventions over the past few years”.
The trade body added that specialist lenders had seen the biggest growth in lending over the year, at around 15 per cent, which UK Finance put down to their “tailored approach to underwriting”.
Building societies also saw decent growth at around 12 per cent, while bank lending growth came to around 7.5 per cent. Those classed as mid-tier lenders by UK Finance saw lending fall by more than 10 per cent over the year.
