Buy-to-let lending falls 15%

Buy-to-let lending fell during the first three months of the year.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported a 15% drop in the number of buy-to-let loans which were taken out during the three months to the end of March at 22,000.

This slow down has been attributed to the end of the stamp duty holiday as activity in the market slowed down following the end of the stamp duty holiday, figures have shown.

Michael Coogan, CML director general, said: "Ignoring the effect of the stamp duty holiday, the lending figures show that the buy-to-let market has settled into a period of stable, low-volume activity. Generally, prospects for the rental market are good. But uncertainty over house prices, interest rates and the availability of mortgage funding is continuing to hold back the buy-to-let market at this stage."

The total value of advances was also 12% lower than it had been during the previous three months at £2.1 billion, which the group attributed to a lull in activity after the stamp duty threshold returned to £125,000 at the beginning of this year.

The buy-to-let market has been hit hard by the credit crunch with the number of buy-to-let mortgages available dropping from 3662 in August 2007 to around about 300 today. In recent months the buy-to-let market has show signs of revival with several lenders announcing 80% LTV deals.

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