Skipton lowers buy-to-let rates by up to 50bps
08-21-2016
By Peter Walker
Skipton Building Society is launching a refreshed range of fixed rate buy-to-let products, with interest rates lowered on certain products by up to 0.50 per cent.
From tomorrow (19 August) the two and five-year term purchase and remortgage products will come at 60, 70 and 75 per cent loan-to-value bands.
Deals include a two-year fixed rate at 1.89 per cent to 60 per cent LTV and a five-year fix at 2.99 per cent up to 70 per cent, both with £1,995 fees.
For those wishing to remortgage, the two-year fixed range includes a 2.15 per cent to 60 per cent LTV and a 2.49 per cent at 70 per cent LTV, both with £995 fees.
All remortgage products offer free valuation and standard legal fees, while all purchase products include a free standard valuation.
Kris Brewster, the society’s head of products, said that in the present environment of ultra low interest rates, buy-to-let seems to be a more and more attractive proposition for potential landlords.
“We have a total of 36 products in our buy-to-let range to give landlords and potential landlords plenty of choice and as many different options as possible to help suit their many different needs.”
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders’ June data, while gross buy-to-let lending was lower than levels seen last year, it did hit the highest monthly levels of activity by volume and value since the stamp duty changes on second properties came in on 1 April.
Since the dash to complete before that deadline, it has been a mixed picture for buy-to-let, with the recent spate of half-year results showing different lender approaches.
Nationwide’s report stated: “An expected contraction in the buy-to-let market, combined with our underwriting changes, is likely to lead to lower levels of new lending for the remainder of the year.”
Meanwhile, over at Aldermore, buy-to-let growth during the first six months of 2016 was up 12 per cent to £2.7bn - from £2.4bn at 31 December - overtaking residential mortgages, which rose by 9 per cent to £1.5bn - from £1.4bn at the end of the year.
Skipton’s latest results noted that 13 per cent of its intermediary lending was on buy-to-let products.