Investment in buy to let properties appears to be holding up in the UK, according to recent comments from one mortgage expert.
Director-general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Michael Coogan, noted: "Demand for rental property remains strong, and as more funding becomes available, we would expect to see buy to let lending increasing."
His comments follow news that new buy to let mortgage lending in the first quarter of the year totalled GBP 2.9 billion across 27,600 loans.
While this is a small (3.5 per cent) decline on the GBP 3 billion lent in the fourth quarter of 2010, year-on-year it represents an increase on the GBP 2.1 billion lent in the first quarter of 2010.
Mr Coogan added: "The performance of buy to let loans is also holding up well, and the differential between arrears rates in the buy to let sector and the owner-occupier sector has narrowed substantially so that there is now only a modest difference between them."