Landlords remortgage to buy more property

by Aaron Strutt

Sep 16 2011

The recent increase in buy-to-let remortgaging has been driven by landlords looking to raise capital in order to buy more investment property, according to research from buy-to-let specialist lender Paragon.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that remortgaging accounted for more than two-thirds of the 21% increase in gross buy-to-let advances between first and second quarters of 2011.

John Heron, managing director at Paragon Mortgages, says: “Approximately two-thirds of properties in the private rented sector have no mortgage and the average loan-to-value on those properties with a mortgage is 48%, so there is a huge amount of equity in the sector that landlords are looking to utilise to help fund portfolio growth.”

September 16, 2011