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Buy-to-let searches remain buoyant in June, reveals Legal & General Mortgage Club
Searches on behalf of portfolio landlords rocketed by 21%. Demand for consumer buy-to-let mortgages up by 7%. Elsewhere, searches for mortgages suitable for discounted market sale properties up by 66%.
28 Jul 2022
June saw a spike in buy-to-let purchase activity, according to new data from Legal & General’s SmartrCriteria tool. Searches on behalf of portfolio landlords soared by 21%, while those for consumer buy-to-let mortgages grew by 7%. ‘Holiday let/Air BnB’ was also the ninth most searched criteria point, up from tenth in May. This latest data comes from Legal & General’s SmartrCriteria tool, which tracks product searches from over 8,000 advisers, shedding light on purchase trends across the UK.
Bank of Mum and Dad remains resilient despite cost-of-living crunch
June data suggests that family members continue to play a key role in helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder. ‘First-time buyer/first-time landlord/non-owner occupier’ was the third most used criteria point, while ‘joint borrower sole proprietor’ took the fifth spot.
Despite wider economic pressure, the number of searches for guarantor/family assist mortgages and gifted equity/concessionary purchase mortgages both remained comparable to May (dropping by 1% and rising by 0.4% respectively).
Specialist products and advisers retain crucial role in market
Demand for specialist products remained high in June, with searches on behalf of applicants purchasing discounted market sale properties rocketing by 66%. Let-to-buy applicants also rose by 7%. As in May, most searches were made on behalf of applicants with a VISA.
Danny Belton, Head of Lender Relationships, Legal & General Mortgage Club: “It is reassuring to see strong demand across the board despite wider economic pressure. The fifth consecutive base rate rise, which came mid-month, does not seem to have dented the high levels of activity in the market and brokers and lenders alike are still as busy as ever.“With product criteria changes coming thick and fast, advisers have a crucial role in reassuring and educating buyers through what might be a more difficult mortgage journey.”
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Established in 1836, Legal & General is one of the UK’s leading financial services groups and a major global investor, with £1.2 trillion in total assets under management (as at FY23) of which c40% (circa £0.5 trillion) is international.
We have a highly synergistic business model, which continues to drive strong returns. We are a leading international player in Institutional Retirement, in Retail Savings and Protection, and in both public and private markets through our Asset Management division. Across the Group, we are committed to responsible investing and dedicated to serving the long-term savings and investment needs of customers and society.
As at 7 June 2024, we estimate the Group’s Solvency II coverage ratio to be 224%.
As at 11 June 2024, Legal & General has a market capitalisation of £14.6 billion.
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In 2023, we had total individual annuity sales of £1,431 million, and issued £299 million of Lifetime Mortgages and Retirement Interest Only Mortgages. Our Workplace pension platform served 5.2 million members, while our Protection businesses gave peace of mind to several million direct, group and US customers, taking in £1,991 million of UK and $1,584 million of US gross written premiums.