Buy-to-let property remains an attractive investment opportunity at a time of low savings rates and stock market volatility, insists specialist lender Together.
Buy-to-Let Remains an Attractive Investment Opportunity, Insists Together
Despite a Government crackdown on buy-to-let landlords, including the 3% Stamp Duty surcharge on additional properties, the abolition of the automatic 10% Wear and Tear Allowance, and the forthcoming reduction in mortgage interest tax relief, Together reports that investors continue to be drawn to the buy-to-let market, as the returns regularly outperform those of other investments.
The firm’s Commercial CEO, Marc Goldberg, explains: “Buy-to-let has proved to be a resilient sector this year, despite the tax changes introduced by the Government.
“Buy-to-let lending continues to perform well for us here at Together, and we’ve been able to grow whilst maintaining a high quality customer base. Given this growth, we want to ensure that we offer a variety of products to meet the continued demand.”
Together has recently introduced a new five-year, fixed rate buy-to-let mortgage to meet the demand from this growing market, with the maximum loan size increased to £500,000, while offering landlords the opportunity to fix their costs.
Goldberg comments: “Our new fixed rate product, as well as bigger loan sizes, will help us deliver more funding to property investors through our network of broker partners.
“We offer both interest-only and repayment options, with loan-to-values of up to 75%, and we’ll accept projected rental incomes, so landlords don’t need to have a tenancy already in place to secure the funding needed.”
He adds: “We also lend to limited companies and have seen an increase in applications from limited companies for buy-to-let funding as a result of the various tax hikes.”
Under the forthcoming changes to mortgage interest tax relief, limited company landlords will not be affected; only individual investors will face a reduction in the amount of mortgage interest that they can offset against tax. The Government has a guide on how the cut will work: /government-guide-tax-relief-changes-residential-landlords/
Together recently announced record trading results, with annual new lending for the year to 30th June 2016 surpassing £1 billion for the first time in the firm’s 42-year history. Its current loan book exceeds £1.8 billion.