Financial Times - Mortgaged landlords face falling profits and refinancing hurdles

by Aaron Strutt

Mar 31 2023

Buy-to-let landlords relying heavily on mortgage finance will struggle to make a profit in 92 local authorities in England and Wales — more than a quarter of councils — according to research that underlines the growing pressures on rental property investors.

Aaron Strutt, technical director at mortgage broker Trinity Financial, told the Financial Times that greater competition between lenders for business had led to rate cuts, with many offering two-year buy-to-let fixes at 4.75 per cent. He said: “Banks and building societies know they need to work harder to attract landlords.” he said.

But he cautioned that while headline rates were becoming more attractive, borrowers should also consider arrangement fees, which typically range between £999 and £1,999. More recently, lenders were increasingly switching to percentage-based fees of 2 or 3 per cent — one specialist lender charged a fee as high as 7 per cent, Strutt said.

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