Mortgage market 'needs new lender to stir up competition'

Date:Monday 7th September 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

The buy-to-let mortgage market is in need of a new lender to appear, as it would stir up competition and drive down rates, according to an industry commentator.

Michael Aglony, marketing manager at Mortgages for Business, noted that the Bank of China had entered the sector recently, but this did not have the desired effect of making lenders offer more competitive rates.

He commented that many lenders have had to pull out of the industry, which has left only a few major lenders sharing all of the customers, which means that none of them really have a reason to compete with each other.

"From our point of view we have had the most amount of enquiries we have ever had, but unfortunately the amount of products has significantly reduced," he said.

However, Mr Aglony suggested that the situation could change over the next few months as the big lenders try to meet their lending targets before the end of the year.

Last week, moneysupermarket.com reported that enquiries for buy-to-let mortgages have risen by almost 50 per cent over the past year.