Following the Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates, landlords are being urged to re-evaluate their mortgage situation to avoid further pressure on their finances.
Landlords looking to purchase or remortgage could benefit from a variety of new products and criteria changes launched over the past month.
Vulnerable landlords sitting on their lender’s standard variable rate are subject to the recent base rate rise further eroding the profitability of their property investment. Research conducted by property management firm DJ Alexander Ltd has discovered that one in three landlords are already paying too much for their mortgage. Fortunately, the buy-to-let market has had a refresh over the past few weeks with several rate reductions and new product launches.
Reduced fixed rates
Vida Homeloans has made cuts to several of its five-year fixed rate deals for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs), multi-unit blocks, loans above £1m and first-time buyer landlords.
Accord has also reduced its rates by up to 0.16% and introduced new five-year deals at 65% and 75% loan to value (LTV), and BM Solutions has reduced rates on both its buy-to-let and let-to-buy products by 0.05% on up to 75% LTV two-year fixes.
New rates available through Buy to Let Club
LendInvest has launched a new five-year fixed rate deal through the Buy to Let Club, fixed at 2.75%, available on up to 75% LTV with a product fee of 4.99%. Available for purchases and remortgages on both standard properties and HMOs, the maximum loan value is £500,000.
Two new fixed-rate buy-to-let products have been launched by Precise Mortgages available exclusively through Buy to Let Club, for both purchases and remortgages. A five-year fixed at 3.45% is offered at 75% LTV with a fee of 1.5%, plus a two-year fixed rate at 2.29% at 75% LTV with a fee of 2.5% – both available on a maximum loan of £3m. Accessible to personal and limited company applications, Precise Mortgages is an attractive proposition for landlords looking to mitigate tax relief changes.
Expats benefit from criteria changes
Saffron Building Society has refreshed its range of expat mortgages with a new 55% LTV band and an increased maximum LTV of 75%. For buy-to-let customers living outside the UK, Saffron now has no restriction on countries with regulated buy-to-let accepted from non-EEA countries. Its buy-to-let range is available to first-time buyers, and no UK mortgage history or minimum income is required.
Landlords still on their lender’s SVR are being encouraged to use the base rate increase as a catalyst to sort out their mortgage affairs – monitoring their mortgage costs and changing lenders or rates where possible to maximise the profitability of their investments.
