The lender is also planning a revamp of its buy-to-let offering which is likely to extend into houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and is eyeing a move into lending in Scotland.
Caroline Mirakian, head of national accounts at Pepper Money, (pictured) revealed the plans as part of Mortgage Brain’s Mortgage Vision Masterclass.
Taking questions from advisers during the session, Mirakian said: “Help to Buy is something we are looking to bring out in the next couple of months. Currently we don’t entertain it, but we will do soon.”
Buy to let and let to buy are also on the lender’s sights for product enhancements and launches and the lender is upbeat for how the market will respond this year.
“We do not do HMOs, however it’s another piece on our radar this year,” Mirakian explained.
“We are looking at making some revamps on our buy-to-let and you may find HMOs is one such.”
And she noted that while let to buy was paused just before Covid, “it is something we are consciously aware of because we do know it’s a growing part of the market. We will keep you posted on that.”
Buoyant buy to let
Discussing the buy-to-let market’s prospects, Mirakian believed most landlords had emerged unscathed from the pandemic.
“Some landlords have reduced some of their tenants’ rents for a certain period of time with the view that later they would bulk it back on, but in the main surprisingly landlords are still maintaining their profitability,” she said.
“It seems to be that they are taking advantage of the stamp duty to be able to go and purchase more properties.
“If there was anyone going to be potentially impacted it was likely to be those with only one property or two, because of those changes to tax relief that have been put in place, but that’s not really a pandemic issue.
“There haven’t been many landlords who have applied for payment holidays either, so it’s been ok,” she added.
With a forecast of around £40bn lending for this year Mirakian expects this to be a “fairly buoyant” part of the market.
And asked by an adviser if there were any plans to lend in Scotland, Mirakian said there were:
“It won’t be in the next few months, but it is certainly on the to do list.”
