Booming buy-to-let helps brokers defy summer slowdown

Brokers bucked the traditional summer mortgage slowdown helped by the continuing boom in buy-to-let, new figures show.

Overall lending totalled £16.4 billion, a rise of 31% on £12.5 billion in July 2014, according to Equifax Touchstone's latest analysis of the intermediary marketplace.

Although month-on-month growth was low at 0.17%, this far outpaced the -3.4% contraction witnessed at the same time last year.

Buy-to-let lending for July was up a hefty 42.5% year-on-year to £3.9 billion.

Residential mortgage lending for the month was £12.6 billion, a 28.3% increase on July 2014.

The Equifax Touchstone data covers 92% of the intermediated lending market and shows the average value of a residential mortgage in July was £186,440, against £174,148 in July 2014.

The average buy-to-let mortgage was £160,234, up from £147,059 in July last year.

Iain Hill, relationship manager, Equifax Touchstone, said: “Growth in lending in 2015 has been stellar.

“We should not be disappointed by the relatively low increase month-on-month. It is positive to see growth during the traditionally quiet summer months and the continued buoyancy in the market gives a great base to build on as the year progresses.”

Equifax Touchstone uses intermediary and customer profiling tools to provide financial services providers with a detailed understanding of their marketplace and client base.