The firm’s data revealed that the number of affordability searches for landlord clients by brokers jumped by 22 per cent between September and October.
This increased focus has coincided with a reduction in average loan sizes on offer from buy-to-let lenders, with MBT pointing to a drop of nearly 24 per cent between July and October.
Brokers have suggested that the recent market turmoil has meant that significant numbers of landlords are now looking to sell up, with warnings that they are ‘bearing the brunt’ of the chaos.
Panellists at the The Mortgage and Protection Event last week added that the buy-to-let space would remain tough until rates came down, pointing to stress testing, rising interest rates and higher loan to value loans being harder to attain.
Tanya Toumadj (pictured), CEO at Mortgage Broker Tools, said that affordability was becoming a bigger issue for buy-to-let borrowers, irrespective of whether they are purchasing or remortgaging, though demand from landlords has not disappeared.
She continued: “There is huge appetite amongst buy-to-let investors for mortgage finance but finding the right deal has become much harder amidst the turbulent lending environment. This puts much greater emphasis on brokers having access to a research platform that can help them to quickly and easily identify the lenders that best suit the needs of their clients.”
