"The Mortgage Works, part of the Nationwide Group, has been running a small pilot over the last year to help customers who approach Nationwide branches or telephone directly in search of a buy to let mortgage."
In a statement, The Mortgage Works says it "has been running a small pilot over the last year to help customers who approach Nationwide branches or telephone directly in search of a buy to let mortgage".
In September, TMW cut its two-year fixed rate mortgage at 65% LTV to 1.79% - the lowest headline rate that TMW has ever offered.
In its half-year results, published today, Nationwide reported gross buy to let mortgage lending of £2.8 billion in H1, slightly lower than the £2.9 billion recorded in H1 2015.
In its results, Nationwide said: "The buy to let sector is going through a period of substantial change resulting from new rules on landlord taxation and a new regulatory regime which provides guidance on underwriting and affordability standards for lending to landlords. As a responsible lender we took the decision to lead the market in making changes to our affordability assessment criteria to ensure our borrowers do not overstretch themselves. This is expected to result in lower buy to let lending in the second half of the year.
"The growth of the buy to let portfolio has slowed following the decision to increase the minimum interest coverage ratio from 125% to 145% and lower the maximum LTV for buy to let borrowing from 80% to 75% in May 2016. These steps were taken in direct response to the new government policy for personal income tax relief for buy to let properties, due to be phased in between April 2017 and March 2021. The new policy for income tax relief will materially affect the cash flow of many investors, including existing investors, and these changes to our lending policy help ensure that buy to let borrowing remains sustainable and affordable."
