Specialist mortgage broker, Mortgages for Business, says that the total amount loaned next year will reach £25 billion.
This is, they say, around 135% more than was loaned when the buy-to-let market plummeted to its lowest point in 2009 when just £8.5 billion was advanced.
However, next year’s figures are still far below the 2007 peak for buy-to-let mortgage lending of £45 billion.
With lenders increasingly keen to approve buy-to-let mortgages, it’s no surprise to find that more than half of landlords plan to expand their portfolios in the coming months.
Mortgages for buy-to-let properties grow
The managing director of Mortgages for Business, David Whittaker, said the buy-to-let rental sector remains a crucial element of the UK’s housing mix.
He added: “Proof of this is in the growth in lending to property investors as landlords signal their intention to expand further which underlines that the demand for property to rent is showing little sign of waning.”
Mortgages for Business questioned 278 property investors for their survey and found that 57% were planning to buy more properties in the next six months and that the landlords with the biggest portfolios were the most likely to expand even further in 2014.
The figure was quite similar for landlords who are often termed as being part-time, that is a landlord who owns between one and 10 properties, with 54% claiming they will expand over the next six months.
For professional buy-to-let landlords, those with more than 11 properties on their portfolio, an impressive 66%, said they were going to boost their portfolios in 2014.
The buying spree for many will be funded by refinancing their portfolios with new mortgages. In total, 64% of landlords said they would have to refinance to find the funding though this figure rose to 72% for professional landlords.
Buy-to-let sector to enjoy huge success in 2014
Despite increasing property prices and growing demand for buy-to-let rental properties, not all landlords are as confident that 2014 will be a successful one.
The survey also found that 7% of all buy-to-let landlords said they were planning to reduce the size of their portfolio in the coming months.
However, the vast majority of landlords are planning to buy more residential homes but there is a growing trend for landlords to invest in houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) and for buying multi-unit freehold blocks.
When asked about buying commercial or semi-commercial property there was less enthusiasm for landlords to expand their portfolios into these sectors with just 14% saying they would be interested.
