The number of buy-to-let purchases has plummeted

pulse

June 23, 2017 11:02 AM

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has lowered its prediction for the value of buy-to-let sales for 2017 and 2018, while the number of first time buyers has risen.

A letting agent sign displaying 'rent me today' outside flats in north London.

The number of properties being bought by landlords in order to be rented, known as buy-to-let, has fallen by almost half since last year, according to new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

helped by falling interest rates and the slowing growth of UK property prices.

The CML attributes the slowdown in buy-to-let purchases to the impact of tax and prudential measures, and hangover effects from last year's change to stamp duty.

Landlords paying higher rates of tax are now experiencing a drop in the amount of tax deduction they can claim from mortgage interest each year, a measure introduced in April. This, says the CML, has made landlords more cautious about expanding their portfolios.

Gross mortgage lending, which reached £20.1bn in May, was up 12% both on last year's figure and on the figure for April. But the CML is clear that the housing market has "stalled" in recent months, and predicts there could be a slowdown in the number of property transactions - typically at around 100,000 per month in 2016, but down to 65,000 in April - over the rest of the year.

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