Buy-to-let acquisitions drop 11% as tax and regulatory changes ‘hit the sector’

There was a significant fall in lending to buy-to-let landlords, according to the latest data from UK Finance. 

The figures show that there was an 11% drop in lending to buy-to-let landlords purchasing new properties, with the total amount lent in September hitting £0.8bn, down 0.8% year-on-year. 

The amount lent in September was also 11% lower than the total in August.

There were 5,500 new buy-to-let property purchase mortgages in September, some 8% less than in the previous month and 3.5% lower than the corresponding month last year. 

Lending to landlords for remortgaging remained unchanged at £2.2bn in September compared to the same month last year, but was 4% below August’s figure.

John Phillips, national operations director at Just Mortgages, commented: “There have been a number of changes to regulations in recent years, not to mention the impact of the stamp duty surcharge for BTL. It would not be surprising if this was deterring landlords from expanding their portfolios and putting new entrants off altogether.” 

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, commented: “Buy-to-let numbers fell again but that is no surprise with the tax and regulatory changes which have hit the sector. ”

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