The number of buy to let mortgages approved plummeted by nearly 70 per cent during the first three months of 2009, according to new figures released today.
Just 22,400 buy to let mortgages were approved during the first quarter of this year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). This represents the lowest figure since the CML began collecting data. It also marks a significant drop from the previous quarter, during which 38,000 new buy to let loans were approved.
There has also been a marked increase in the number of buy to let properties being repossessed. 1,700 buy to let properties were taken back by lenders during the first quarter of 2009 - almost twice as many as during the same period a year before.
But the CML also claimed that buy to let mortgage arrears were slightly down. The Council said the arrears rate was down from 2.85 per cent in the final quarter of 2008 to 2.49 per cent in the first three months of this year.
