Letting agents fearful of the Renters’ Rights Bill have some good news after official buy-to-let lending figures have revealed an unexpected revival in the landlord market.

Trade body UK Finance has released figures showing that during the first three months of the year there were 58,347 new buy-to-let loans advanced, worth £10.5 billion.

This is a 39 per cent by number and 47 per cent by value increase compared with the same quarter last year.

UK Finance also reveals more good news for landlords – an increase in rental yields; the average gross rental yield was 6.94 per cent during the first quarter of the year, compared with 6.88 per cent during the same period last year.

Industry reaction

Nathan Emerson, Chief Executive of Propertymark

“It is positive to witness what we hope is a wider scale revival in buy-to-let lending across Q1 of 2025,” he says.

“This trend has likely been encouraged by interest rates on buy-to-let loans being lower than they were in the same quarter for 2024.

“These numbers demonstrate that more competitive interest rates are helping to attract more people to the buy-to-let market.”

“However, with mortgage possessions up this quarter from the same quarter a year previously, these figures also highlight there are still significant affordability issues for those engaging in buy-to-let borrowing in recent years.”

Louisa Sedgwick, MD of Mortgages at Paragon Bank

“Buy-to-let lending in the first quarter of the year was the highest seen since the mini-budget and in line with pre-pandemic levels, primarily driven by a surge in new purchase activity ahead of the changes to Stamp Duty thresholds at the end of the quarter,” she says.

“This shows that with the right market conditions landlords will invest. Demand currently exceeds supply and is forecast to continue, driven by factors such as population increases and household formation changes.”