Mortgage lending for buy-to-let properties increased by 26% in the final three months of last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
Banks and building societies handed loans worth £7.7bn to landlords in the final quarter of 2014 – up 32% on the same period a year ago. On the other hand, lending to first-time buyers is down 2% on the previous quarter, to £11.6bn.
The number of loans for buy-to-let across the whole of 2014 totalled 197,700 – up 23% compared with 2013.
In December 2014, the average house price was £272,000, up £1,000 from November 2014 but below the peak of £274,000 in August.
The data appears to show that buy-to-let property is becoming an increasingly popular means of securing a retirement income following new pension reforms coming into force.
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The Guardian