Over four in 10 landlords (44%) will remortgage or opt for a product transfer this year, revealed Foundation Home Loans’ Landlord Trends report for Q1 2024.
According to the data — which surveyed 774 landlords between March and April this year — 49% of respondents said they have one mortgage due for refinance in the next 12 months, while 24% have two, and 27% have three or more.
Looking ahead, 48% of landlords keen to fund any future property acquisitions intend to use a BTL mortgage, while 38% would purchase it outright or release equity from existing properties, and 15% would dip into their pension pots to cover the purchase costs.
When asked if they had a rate preference, a slight majority of landlords suggested a two-year fix, while close to a third said they didn’t know at this stage or would take advice closer to the time.
According to Foundation, these latest figures show there’s an opportunity for advisers to service more BTL landlord borrowers — particularly as the study revealed that 68% of landlords had used a mortgage adviser to arrange their most recent BTL mortgage, while 26% had arranged it directly with a lender.
The study also identified the different changes landlords have made over the past 18 months to mitigate rising costs — 30% said they had renegotiated their mortgage with their existing lenders, while 29% had increased rents.
Meanwhile, the increased BTL costs have led 25% of landlord respondents to cancel plans to purchase additional property, 15% to sell a dwelling to reduce mortgage outgoing, and 15% to use non-rental income, such as savings, to cover part of their monthly mortgage payments.
In addition, 17% of landlords said they now carry out more of the property management themselves in order to cut costs, while 8% said they had switched away from letting agents to self-management.
Grant Hendry, director of sales at Foundation Home Loans (pictured above), said: “While we have seen rates come down off their 2023 highs, there will still be large numbers of landlords who are coming to the end of their current deals, and are looking for solutions in order to keep down any mortgage cost increases.
“It’s clear this presents a real opportunity for advisers in the BTL space, not least because a significant minority are still opting to go direct to their lender, rather than review what is available across the entire market.
“Plus, a number feel they are getting advice in doing this, which may support their understanding of the rate type, but does not open them to what’s available from other lenders.
“As noted in the survey, there is a lot of maturity business coming to the table in 2024, and advice will be crucial for these landlord borrowers so they get the most positive outcome — plus a number of landlords want to add to portfolios, and there will be no stakeholder in the market who doesn’t welcome greater levels of purchase activity.
“Advisers can clearly play a vital and pivotal role for them, and our survey numbers suggest there are still a significant number of landlords who are not using the services of an adviser, and therefore missing out on a raft of product options, not forgetting the protection that comes with advice.”
