Mortgage lending on buy-to-let properties has dived by nearly two-thirds in the past year, figures showed on Friday. Around 37,000 mortgages, worth £3.9 billion, were taken out by investment landlords during the final quarter of 2008, the CML (Council of Mortgage Lenders) said.
That is 56 per cent lower by number and 65 per cent lower by value than during the same period a year earlier. There were 4,000 repossessed buy-to-let properties last year, up from 2,000 in 2007, the group said. And the number of buy-to-let mortgages more than three months in arrears was up from 7,500 by the end of 2007 to 26,800 by 2008's finish.
Ian Potter, of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, said: "The contraction in the buy-to-let market will have a very significant impact on the availability of housing stock for the population."
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