The Financial Adviser Confidence Tracking Index, carried out by the specialist buy-to-let mortgage lender, found that, on average, the intermediaries interviewed conducted 5.4% more buy-to-let business in Q2 than in the first quarter.
Availability of buy-to-let finance also improved significantly during the past three months. Of the intermediaries surveyed, 64% thought that availability improved and just 8% felt that it deteriorated.
Paragon’s FACT Index also showed that more than seven out of ten of all cases introduced by financial advisers in the second quarter were for residential mortgages (72%), and two out of ten (20%) were for buy-to-let mortgages.
Interestingly, 47% of buy-to-let mortgages processed by intermediaries in the second quarter were for landlords looking to extend their current portfolios.
This has increased from 43% in the first quarter. Mortgages for first-time landlords totalled 21% in Q2, which was up from 18% in Q1. The proportion of remortgages fell during the second quarter to 28% (35% in Q1).
John Heron, Paragon Mortgages Managing Director, said:
“Government statistics just released indicate that more than 17% of English property is now in the private rented sector. All of the market indicators, however, suggest that there is still not enough property for new tenants.
“Better availability of buy-to-let finance, particularly for professional landlords, is critical to the expansion of the supply of rental property. It’s therefore, good to see that this is starting to come through.”
