Should first time buyers be tempted into buy to let investment?

A high profile mortgage lender operating in the buy to let sector has launched a series of products aimed at investors who do not yet own their principal homes.

The Suffolk Building Society has announced a series of new products and lending criteria changes to encourage younger investors. 

Non-home owning applicants are told that full buy to let criteria will be applied including interest cover ratio and minimum income requirements. The society will also run a background affordability assessment.

Existing buy to let landlords wishing to purchase or remortgage their own residential property will now be considered regardless of how many buy to lets they have in the background, as long as the buy to let portfolio is self-financing. Previously, the society had a limit of 10 buy to lets in the background but this criterion has now been removed to help landlords.

And for ex-pats - a target market for this particular building society - applications will be accepted from first time buyers who are working and residing abroad and who have not owned a property before but who wish to purchase a rental property in the UK now. 

The society will no longer require returning expats to spend a set amount of time in the UK before applying for a mortgage. It’s common for lenders to require anything up to two years on home soil but this change allows expats to apply as soon as they return; this applies to both employed and retired applicants.

Non-UK nationals will also be accepted on a joint application where one applicant is a UK national. This means that the non-UK partner can now be named on the mortgage. 

Charlotte Grimshaw, head of intermediary relations at Suffolk Building Society, says: “We know our niches extremely well and have a very good understanding of the issues facing brokers in these markets at the moment. It matters to us that we’re there to support those whose circumstances means they need a specialist lender on their side – particularly as everyone faces the uncertainty of the current economic climate.”