Finance News

Mortgage Tracker reveals decline in costs for Five-Year Fixed Rate Buy-to-Let Mortgages

Em Morley - May 9, 2018

Since the beginning of the year, the cost of five-year fixed rates for buy-to-let mortgages have been falling, according to a new Mortgage Tracker launched yesterday by Property Master, the mortgage broker. This is despite speculation that the Bank of England may at some point decide to increase base rates yet again.

The Mortgage Tracker also revealed a decline in two-year fixed rates based on 65% and 75% of the value of the property, from January to 1st May this year. The only increase over this five-month period was for two-year fixed rate mortgages for 50% of the value of a buy-to-let property, which was by 0.42%.

Angus Stewart, Chief Executive of Property Master has commented: “This is quite a significant increase and perhaps reflects that there are fewer lenders discriminating at the 50% LTV level. Lenders are clearly taking margin here and giving back on other LTV levels.”

The tracker also highlighted the savings to be had on fixed rate buy-to-let interest only mortgages. For a five-year fixed rate, on a property worth £180,000, the savings ranged from £5 to £15 per month. Looking at two-year fixed rates, some included savings of £10 to £15 a month.

Stewart also said: “There are some very good deals out there for landlords, despite worries over any future increase in base rates. The Monetary Policy Committee meets again this coming Thursday (10thMay) so we will see what happens then but there may be other factors operating in the buy-to-let market which explains the decline in costs that we have seen.

“Our findings come on the back of recent research revealing that the number of buy-to-let products currently on the market has reached a record high, so it could be that we are seeing landlords benefiting from unprecedented competition amongst lenders for their business.  This is very good news indeed.”

The Property Master Mortgage Tracker takes into account a range of buy-to-let mortgages for an interest only loan on a typical £180,000 property. It looks at rates from a range of big lenders, including Barclays, NatWest, RBS, TSB, Virgin Money, and BM Solutions.