There were 15,900 buy to let loans in February, down 13% compared to January but up 11% on the total a year earlier, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
These loans totalled £2.2 billion in lending, down 12% from January this year but 16% above the amount loaned in February 2014.
It was the same trend with buy to let re-mortgaging, which fell 19% in February from January to 8,400, but this was an increase of 23% on February 2014.
The value of these loans totalled £1.3 billion – a whopping 31% up on last February.
“Buy to let, in contrast, has shown year on year lending increases, due almost completely to remortgaging which is typically strong in the buy to let market,” said Paul Smee, director general of the CML.
“We have launched the CML buy to let statement of practice which reflects what responsible lenders already do and offers a clear explanation of how buy to let lenders operate. We hope it will help in people’s understanding of the buy to let lending environment and the transparency of the statement of practice can give confidence to landlords that clear and consistent lending policies are being undertaken.”
