Third of landlords may sell this year

Almost one in three buy to let landlords are set to sell up in the next 12 months.

That’s the shock statistic from a new report by comparison service Uswitch.

It says the average loan value on a buy to let property purchase was under £158,000 last month, some 6% up on the February figure.

The service’s 2024 BTL report shows that 30% of landlords plan to sell a property within the next 12 months from the fourth quarter of 2023.

Meanwhile, those landlords aged 40 to 49 are those who borrowed the most between 2023 and 2024. In this demographic, the average amount borrowed was £152,963 - just ahead, in cash volume terms, of landlords aged 50 to 59 years old, whose average borrowing totals were £151,621.

Uswitch says London has the highest average buy to let loan value among the regions in the UK, at £272,052 in March - that’s some 30% more than any other region.

The service's report found that over 83,000 BTL mortgages were approved last year accounting for just 7.5% of total lending last year. Total BTL advances in Q3 2023 were valued at £4.7 billion, some 10% more than the previous quarter but 57% less than the same time in 2022.

Uswitch says Lloyds Bank has the largest share of the UK mortgage industry, accounting for just under 17% of the market.

Read the full report here.