The number of buy-to-let loans for house purchase was 8,600 in March, up 8% on February and 13% on March 2014. These loans represented a value of £1.2 billion, an increase of 20% month-on-month and 33% year-on-year compared to March 2014.
The number of buy-to-let loans remortgages increased 15% in March from February to 9,400, which was an increase of 29% on March 2014. The value of these loans totalled £1.4bn, up 8% month-on-month and 27% compared with March 2014.
In the first quarter of 2015, buy-to-let lending made up 18% of total gross lending in the UK, which was the highest proportion of total lending since quarterly records began in mid-2006. This was mainly driven by both a fall in remortgage and house purchase loans to home-owners activity in this period. There were 52,300 buy-to-let loans advanced in the first quarter - down 3% on the previous quarter but up 15% on the same period in 2014. These loans came to £7.8bn in value, up 1% compared to the first quarter and up 28% on the first quarter of 2014.
Within this, the number of buy-to-let loans for house purchase was 24,440 and the number of loans for buy-to-let remortgage was 27,370, which were down 8% and up 2% respectively compared to the fourth quarter 2014. In comparison to the first quarter of 2014, these loans were up 6% for buy-to-let house purchase and 23% up for buy-to-let remortgage.
Loans for buy-to-let house purchase represented a value of £3.3 billion, down 8% on the previous quarter but up 6% compared to the first quarter 2014. Buy-to-let remortgage loans represented £4.2 billion, unchanged compared to the previous quarter but up year-on-year by 29% compared to the first quarter 2014.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, commented:
"It was a slow start to activity in the first couple of months of 2015 but the market started to get out of the dip in March, a trend that we think will continue as the year goes on.
"We will have to wait and see how the housing market reacts to the general election result and the reduction in the risk of a prolonged period of market uncertainty which could well have been damaging to businesses and the housing market.”
