No post-MMR boom for buy-to-let so far, say two-thirds of brokers
06-06-2014
By Devraj Ray
Two-thirds of brokers say they have not seen an increase in buy-to-let lending since the Mortgage Market Review came into effect on 26 April.
Mortgage Strategy’s most recent straw poll asks if brokers have experienced an uplift in buy-to-let business since the MMR came into effect five weeks ago, with some 68 per cent saying they had not yet witnessed an increase.
With the MMR requiring lenders to apply more stringent affordability checks for residential mortgage applicants, industry commentators forecast an increase in buy-to-let business.
Trinity Financial product and communications manager Aaron Strutt says: “I don’t think the figures are too surprising at the moment for a variety of reasons. Firstly, a lot of the lenders are getting wise to buy-to-let gaming and all that comes with it so they will more than likely have extra checks in place to spot if an applicant is going to live in the property.
“You also have to consider that many of the lenders have been MMR-compliant since before 26 April, so that takes away from the likeliness we would see a sharp increase. We may see a more gradual trend over time but I wouldn’t expect to see anything drastic.”