20% more landlords struggling with mortgage payments than a year ago

The number of landlords struggling financially has soared by 20%, figures from UK Finance, the organisation replacing the Council of Mortgage Lenders, reveal. Its latest market report shows that the number of landlords with more serious mortgage arrears is on the increase. Those with arrears of between 7.5% and 10% of their balance increased by a fifth year-on-year, although the buy-to-let ‘crackdown’ being led by the government has yet to drive increased possessions in this market – which have held steady. Buried deep in the UK Finance figures is one less publicised fact – that ten times fewer landlords are in mortgage difficulties than homeowners. This may baffle the many landlords who are facing increased lending criteria following the Prudential Regulation Authority’s recently-introduced stricter buy-to-let lending rules. But although the buy-to-let market is struggling, the lending market for homeowners is looking much brighter, UK Finance says. The number of homeowners with arrears of up to 5% of their mortgage balance has been dropping dramatically over the few years, down from 55,000 mortgage in 2014 to 34,500 mortgage during the final quarter of last year. And year-on-year, this type of mortgage arrears decreased by 10%. Also, those in serious arrears has…