I’ve noticed that a large number of lenders have cut their mortgage rates since the start of the year, possibly as a consequence of Funding for Lending.
Within the last couple of weeks a number of lenders have cut rates on their buy to let products.
BM Solutions, owned by Lloyds banking group, cut rates on its 2 year fixed from 3.69% to 3.49% for mortgages with a 60% LTV, with an arrangement fee of £995.
Nottingham Building Society cut the rate on its 2 year fixed by 0.16% to 3.49% for loans with 75% LTVs.
The cheapest 2 year fixed buy to let loan is by The Mortgage Works, the buy to let arm of Nationwide, for loans with a 65% LTV. However, the sting in the tail is that it comes with a hefty 3.5% arrangement fee!
The availability of cheap fixed rates, coupled with rising yields has encouraged landlords to refinance their portfolios, principally to draw-out equity to use for expanding their buy to let portfolios.
According to Mortgages for Business, a specialist buy to let finance broker, in the first 3 months of 2013 69% of applications have been for remortgages. This compares to 43% in the last quarter of 2012.