News

Some of Britain?s largest buy-to-let lenders are experiencing a return to profits and observers believe that this may help increase lending to private sector landlords. Bradford & Bingley posted profits amounting to £896 million during the first six months of the year.
Although this figure represents pre-tax profits, it is still a major improvement for Bradford & Bingley over their performance during the same period in 2009. Last year, the buy-to-let leader experienced a loss of £160 million. But an increase in profits is not the only good news for the government-administered financial institution. The number of clients in arrears, including both regular mortgage holders and buy-to-let investors, dropped over the first two quarters. In fact, the number of clients with arrears extending to three months declined by 18%, compared to the early summer of 2009.
Some observers expect that the return to profits and lower arrears will ultimately lead to more varied buy-to-let products, as well as an upsurge in lending.