BTL lending bounces back a bit - CML data

The Council of Mortgage Lenders figures for August are out.

Key points are -

• Home-owner borrowing on 66,000 loans totalled £12.2bn, - up 14% on July, 11% up on August 2015.
• First-time buyers borrowed £5.1bn on  31,800 loans,  up 13% on July and 24% on August 2015.
• Home movers borrowed £7.1bn on  34,200 loans,  up 15% on July, 3% up on August 2015.
• Remortgages on 34,900 loans, totalled 5.9bn, down 2% on July, but up 41% on August 2015. 
• Landlords borrowed £3bn on 19,400 loans,  no change from July,  down 12% .on August 2015. 

Paul Smee, director general of the CML, comments:

'House purchase activity bounced back from a dip in July, reflecting resilience in first-time buyer activity. Mortgage rates remain at or close to historic lows, and the re-pricing of mortgages following August’s base rate cut should help to underpin a continuing, strong appetite for home-ownership over the coming months.

Buy-to-let by contrast continues to operate at lower levels five months after the stamp duty change on second properties. This appears to be a long-term trend, and with lenders potentially tightening affordability checks ahead of the tax changes in April 2017, activity on the buy-to-let house purchase side may well remain at current levels.'

BTL lending in August

Gross BTL lending was way down on early 2016, but showed signs of recovery, with 1,000 more BTL loans in August compared with July. Remortgages remain dominant in the BTL lending market amounting to nearly two thirds of BTL loans. 

Take advantage of our discounted landlord insurance rates