Buy-to-let mortgage rates have fallen to their lowest ever levels with the best two-year fixed rate costing just 2.49%.
That is more than two percentage points lower than in August 2007, before the financial crisis struck.
Arrangement fees are also falling, with one in 10 buy-to-let deals now fees-free.
Some 10 million people now live in accommodation rented from private landlords, roughly double the number in 2000, according to Knight Frank, and the figure is set to rise further.
And the buy-to-let market continues to boom, with brokers expecting to do more business in 2014, according to separate research from broker Mortgages for Business..
Almost six out of 10 buy-to-let landlords are looking to buy more properties this year, it said.
The average number of mortgages introduced by intermediaries rose 7% in the final quarter of 2013, according to the latest research from buy-to-let specialist Paragon Mortgages.
This was a sharp increase over the past year, and follows a steady annual increase in the average number of intermediary mortgage cases since 2010.
Intermediaries are optimistic about future levels of mortgage business, in particular buy-to-let.
Over 50% of intermediaries expect to do more buy-to-let mortgage business over the next 12 months.
The availability of buy-to-let finance has also risen strongly, brokers say.
In the final quarter of last year, 56% of intermediaries said availability of buy-to-let finance had improved, up from 47% one year earlier.
Paragon managing director John Heron said: "The real test of any recovery is the volume of transactions. The market has been very dull for a long time but evidence is now stacking up of a major shift in gear.
"Intermediaries are writing more mortgage business and are confident about writing more again in the near future.
"But it is important to keep these improved levels of activity in perspective. Although the volume of mortgage business is increasing for many intermediaries, levels are still lower than they were pre-2008.
"There is a long way to go therefore before we have a market that we could regard as normal'."
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