Buy-to-let mortgages now seeing more competitive market

Those who are looking to invest in UK property that they can subsequently lend out to other people are now finding it easier to get finance for their projects.

This is the opinion of one housing expert who said that there are now more lenders in the market looking to give mortgages to landlords in the buy-to-let sector.

A greater number of banks and building societies trying to give finance to those who are looking for properties for sale also means that there is an increased competition, and this can lead to better rates and terms for potential landlords who are moving into the market.

Lee Grandin, director at Landlord Mortgages, said that the mainstream building societies in particular are starting to move into competition with each other to try to allow people to borrow this year.

He added, however, that people should still exercise caution however, as it could take time for the rates as a whole to fall by any significant margin.

One of the reasons for this, the expert said, was because the number of landlords looking to come into the market for rental homes has not seen any significant rise at all. This means that building societies are looking to offer better products in order to retain the number of mortgages that they are selling.

"I wouldn't say there is an upturn as a result. These rates have just come in and that may be because the volume of business has dropped off and they want to keep up their levels. I don't know if it is because they have a volume of business and want a higher volume of business, or if it is just that they need to try and stimulate things a bit. I think it is probably more the case that the market is still quite subdued," Mr Grandin said.

It was reported earlier this week also, by the Land Registry, that the price of houses across the UK has now fallen in July for the first time in 2012.