Posts with tag: buy to let mortgages

Latest buy-to-let hotspots revealed

Published On: July 27, 2015 at 3:04 pm

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,

This year’s UK buy-to-let hotspots have been revealed, with several new towns and cities moving into the top ten.

Barclays Mortgage’s latest data reveals that England’s two primary cities lead the way for the number of buy-to-let homes brought this year, with Bristol holding on to third position.

Increases

With the buy-to-let market continuing to thrive, a number of regions have seen a substantial increase in activity over the last year. Birmingham for example, has risen from seventh to second position in the list. Popular University locations such as Nottingham, Manchester and Leeds have also continued to perform well.

The greatest rise in buy-to-let property purchases was recorded in Plymouth, which rose from 212th position in 2014 to 16th this year. Peterborough and Swindon also saw large rises in buy-to-let interest.

The top-twenty most popular regions for buy-to-let properties based on Barclays Mortgages report were:

Rank (by volume of Barclays completed buy-to-let properties) Q1-Q2 Town Average rent (of Barclays Mortgages completed buy-to-let properties) Q1-Q2 2015
2015 2014
1 1 LONDON £1,900
2 7 BIRMINGHAM £766
3 3 BRISTOL £877
4 17 NOTTINGHAM £639
5 18 MANCHESTER £693
6 13 READING £1,169
7 47 LEEDS £703
8 6 SOUTHAMPTON £1,067
9 50 PETERBOROUGH £649
10 19 SLOUGH £1,045
11 48 GLASGOW £601
12 5 ILFORD £1,252
13 4 HARROW £1,402
14 35 EDINBURGH £923
15 8 CROYDON £1,262
16 212 PLYMOUTH £808
17 12 ENFIELD £1,268
18 79 SWINDON £681
19 62 LUTON £754
20 28 MILTON KEYNES £873

[1]

 

Latest buy-to-let hotspots revealed

Latest buy-to-let hotspots revealed

Encouragement

Andy Gray, Barclays Managing Director of Mortgaging said, ‘it’s encouraging to see home owners are still feeling confident about the rental market and view buy-to-let as a valuable way to support their finances. Whilst London still leads all things buy-to-let, areas like Plymouth and Peterborough show there are some great value hot spots outside the capital city that are worth investment as the economy grows.’[1]

‘For those considering buy-to-let, we encourage you to speak to your mortgage advisor on what are the best options for your situation,’ Gray added.[1]

[1] http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/where-are-the-latest-uk-buy-to-let-hotspots.html

 

 

Kensington Mortgages changes buy-to-let range

Published On: July 16, 2015 at 10:59 am

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,

Kensington Mortgages has moved to alter some of the products in its buy-to-let range with the introduction of better rental calculations and removing minimum income rules for existing landlords.

Reductions

As part of the changes, rental coverage has been lowered to 125% of 5.50% with the lender also offering new options at 65% LTV with rates from 3.39%. In addition, a limited distribution 80% LTV product has been launched, which are available from 4.29% through a host of networks.[1]

Alongside changes to the buy-to-let range, Kensington Mortgages has made alterations to its residential mortgages, introducing new five-year fixed rate deals and different LTV bandings. The firm hopes that this will give more of a selection to their customers, in order to fulfill changing demands.

Common sense

‘At Kensington, our lending decisions are made by experienced underwriters, not a credit score, and this is true for our buy-to-let mortgages too,’ said Steve Griffiths, head of sales and distribution at Kensington. ‘This means we can take a common sense approach to a landlords’ circumstances, including their portfolio size and income, as well as the property in which they are investing,’ he continued.[1]

Kensington Mortgages changes buy-to-let range

Kensington Mortgages changes buy-to-let range

Griffiths went on to state that, ‘in particular, we feel that professional landlords who derive their total income from their property portfolio have limited options currently and we are keen to increase to our presence in this channel.’[1]

‘With these latest changes we are stepping up our game in buy-to-let, providing new options for brokers and their landlord clients,’ he concluded.[1]

[1]https://www.landlordtoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2015/7/kensington-refreshes-buy-to-let-range

 

 

New Three-Year Fixed Rate Deals from Paragon

Published On: July 7, 2015 at 11:40 am

Author:

Categories: Finance News

Tags: ,,,

New Three-Year Fixed Rate Deals from Paragon

New Three-Year Fixed Rate Deals from Paragon

Specialist lender, Paragon Mortgages, has announced today that it is launching a selection of three-year fixed rate products and is updating all other deals in its range, which are designed for professional landlords.

The new three-year fixed rates are available at up to 75% loan-to-value (LTV) at 3.99% for single, self-contained properties and 4.45% for HMOs and multi-unit blocks. Both have a 2% product fee.

The new three-year fixes have been created to supplement the existing range of two and five-year fixed rate deals. These have been re-dated to 30th September 2017 and 2020 respectively. On two-year products, rates start at 3.75% and are from 4.6% on five-year fixes.

Director of Paragon Mortgages, John Heron, says: “Our new range of three-year fixed rate products are very competitive and designed to meet the needs of more experienced landlords with larger property portfolios.

“The new range, along with our fixed rates for two and five years, best suit landlords looking to plan financially for the slightly longer term. Our latest intermediary trends survey shows that landlord clients are still preferring to fix and the growth in popularity of five-year fixes remains.

“Our range now includes 14 competitive and tailored fixed rate products in addition to the tracker rates available for a variety of terms for those landlords who require a little more flexibility.

“We have worked hard to ensure that our new summer range has something to meet a breadth of professional landlords’ requirements, as demand from tenants remains high.”1

1 http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/landlords/paragon-launches-new-range-of-three-year-fixes.html

Landlords to Buy More Properties in Next Six Months

Published On: June 2, 2015 at 2:51 pm

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,,

A report has revealed that two-thirds of landlords are planning to buy at least one more property in the last half of the year.

Landlords to Buy More Properties in Next Six Months

Landlords to Buy More Properties in Next Six Months

Research by buy-to-let mortgage broker Mortgages for Business found that 65% of investors renting out homes intend to expand their portfolios in the next six months, up from 55% at the beginning of the year.

The report also uncovered that only 8% of UK landlords are planning to sell some of their rental properties before the end of 2015 and a further 27% will keep their portfolios at their current size for the near future.

David Whittaker, Managing Director of Mortgages for Business, says: “Landlords are better capitalised and now more confident about reinvesting. A strong rental market is being driven by tenants moving to make the most of job opportunities.

“That new surge of demand is putting more upwards pressure on rents and landlords are only just beginning to supply more homes to let in response.”1 

The study also questioned landlords about the support they receive from mortgage lenders, discovering that just 30% believe lenders do enough to understand the needs of property investors.

Furthermore, 20% said they think mortgage lenders should loan larger amounts and another 20% would like lenders to reduce their rates even further than the current record low.

Mortgages for Business also revealed that 57% of landlords think that lenders should ease the criteria that they measure borrowers against before offering them a loan.

1 http://www.rman.co.uk/latest-news/article/buy-to-let-purchases-to-increase-over-next-six-months

Prestige Finance Introduces Second Charge BTL Range

Published On: May 23, 2015 at 3:48 pm

Author:

Categories: Finance News

Tags: ,,,

Prestige Finance, a second charge loan specialist firm, has introduced a new range of buy-to-let mortgage products.

Prestige Finance Introduces Second Charge BTL Range

Prestige Finance Introduces Second Charge BTL Range

Using the advice of its key partners, Prestige created the products to allow landlords to release equity without having to reorganise their portfolio and existing buy-to-let mortgage.

The variable range includes a professional landlord offer, for three or more homes, with a maximum loan of £1m per property. Rates begin at 5.79% up to 75% loan-to-value (LTV).

The standard buy-to-let product has a rate of 6.99% up to 75% LTV with a maximum size of £200,000 per property.

Head of Product & New Business at Prestige, Darrell Walker, explains: “We’re very pleased to launch our completely new range of buy-to-let products. It couldn’t have been achieved without the valuable and extensive insight of our broker partners, who have helped us to create such a strong proposition for property investors.

“They told us a large number of their portfolio clients were unable to release equity without disturbing their main headline rate. Also the high rates available would often be the stumbling block for landlords currently benefiting from historic tracker products.

“We’ve listened to broker feedback and utilised the specialist lending expertise of our parent group, OneSavings Bank, to create a genuine market-leading product range.”1

Sales & Marketing Director at OneSavings Bank, John Eastgate, adds: “The inclusion of a brand new product range again reinforces Prestige Finance’s position as a real leader in terms of product innovation, partnerships and its professional approach to the second charge market.

“It’s great to witness the expertise of the specialist lending teams of OneSavings Bank coming together to deliver a competitive product that really helps both key partners and their clients.”1

1 http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/finance/second-charge-btl-range-launches-at-prestige-finance.html

Buy-to-let mortgages for 85 year olds

Published On: May 20, 2015 at 10:05 am

Author:

Categories: Landlord News

Tags: ,,

The buy-to-let mortgage battle has taken another twist with the news that a leading lender is to increase the maximum age of a borrower at the end of a mortgage term to 85 years old.

Fleet Mortgages say that they are to change their age from 75 in the face of the more relaxed pension laws. They argue that will pensioners now having the ability to use some or all of their savings for one-off purchase, such as a property, then there will be more numbers of retirees wishing to invest in the buy-to-let market.

Having only started to lend to borrowers at the back end of last year, Fleet have stated that since the launch of the product, almost 50% of their clients have been aged over 50. During the first quarter of this year, the firm received £145m worth of buy-to-let revenue in their system, with loan sizes for all products totalling £245,000.

Buy-to-let mortgages for 85 year olds

Buy-to-let mortgages for 85 year olds

Bob Young, chief executive of Fleet Mortgages, believes that the change in maximum age shows their support for embracing change. Young said that his company is committed to, ‘evolving and enhancing our criteria in order to ensure it is fit for purpose in a changing marketplace-this is why we have increased our maximum customer age at the end of loan, up from 75 to 85 years old.’

Continuing, Young said that, ‘we recognise, for instance, that people are living longer, that landlords want to hold their properties longer into retirement plus there is a growing appetite amongst people over 50 wanting to invest in property.’