Lending in the second half of the year increased the number of outstanding buy-to-let mortgages to 701,900, worth a total of £73.4 billion equal to 8 per cent of the total market at the end of 2005, according to figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
During this period the size of the outstanding buy-to-let market grew by 11 per cent by volume and 16 per cent by value, compared to the first half of the year.
The average maximum loan-to-value ratio for buy-to-let lending is now 85 per cent and lenders expect monthly rental income to exceed mortgage payments by at least 25 per cent.
The proportion of buy-to-let loans in arrears of three months or more declined, from 0.7 per cent to 0.68 per cent. This proportion was lower than for the mortgage market as a whole.