The number of Buy-to-Let mortgages taken out in December 2015 was 30.1% higher than twelve months ago.
While the total number of buy-to-let mortgages granted dipped 3.4% month to month, this was largely caused by a dip in the number of remortgages, which fell by 9.2%. The number of buy-to-let loans for purchase grew by 3% with the value of those loans up 7.7%. Correspondingly there was a 19.8% growth on twelve months previous with a 27.3% increase in value.
The information, released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders also shows that the number of first time buyer loans also increased, up 5.8% month to month, as well as 11.4% on December 2014.
Overall the number of loans for house purchase also crept up, with 62,700 house purchase loans recorded, up 4.2% on November and 11.8% on December 2014.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: “Improving economic conditions, boosted by government schemes like Help to Buy, saw the highest quarterly number of loans to purchase a home for eight years. The market has seen a gradual upward trajectory over the past few years, rather than rapid growth, and we’d expect this trend to continue with gross lending steadily increasing over the next two years.”
