Analysis of Company House data from Hamptons showed that there were a total of 47,400 new buy-to-let companies incorporated in 2021 across the UK. This is reported to be almost double the number that were set up in 2017, when it was announced that investors with properties in their personal names would no longer be able to claim mortgage interest as an expense. While the number of buy-to-let companies up and running in the UK passed through the 200,000 mark as the country emerged from the first lockdown, by 2021 this figure has risen to a new total of 269,300.

The 2022 Mortgage Strategy Awards are taking place at the end of May and Dynamo for Intermediaries is nominated in the following category:

Best Specialist Broker/Distributor

We'd be very grateful if you would consider giving us your vote. Visit https://mortgagestrategyawards.co.uk/msa/en/page/industry-vote before Friday 28^th January – it only takes a minute.

In recent times, the remortgage market has taken a back seat to a purchase arena which has crackled and popped with activity over much of 2020 and 2021. However, is 2022 set to be the year of the remortgage?

2021 has been a hectic year for the industry, and the festive period offers the perfect opportunity to take a breath, eat, drink, be merry and recharge our batteries for what is sure to be an equally busy 2022.

The Stamp Duty Holiday, its subsequent extension and heightened competition across the entire mortgage market resulted in sustained activity levels throughout the year. Although an expected lull has occurred within the mainstream purchase market since the end of September deadline, activity in the buy-to-let and more specialist mortgage markets has remained strong.

The recent axing of an East Midlands–Leeds high-speed line and a scaling back of the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project has drawn fresh attention to the government’s ‘levelling up’ plans.

When it comes to house prices, the housing market and rental demand, the capital and the South-East have often proved to be the source of much interest. However, for many savvy property professionals – even those who may have had a long history of operating in and around this area – heads have been turned in recent years to opportunities further afield. This is especially evident over the past 18 months as a number of landlords and investors have looked to explore more affordable regions in search of lower initial outlays, greater longer-term yields, the ability to mitigate risk and portfolio diversification.

We’re quickly heading towards that time of year when many people tend to have one eye on the past and one on the future. For landlords, 2021 has proved to be an opportunity-laden year and there’s plenty of optimism in the air to suggest that 2022 will see the private rental sector become an even more prominent focal point within the economy, the housing market, the mortgage industry and the intermediary community. 

One area already looking well ahead into the new year is the student community which – after a sustained period of uncertainty, remote studying and living far afield from campuses – has seen numbers return in their droves. A move which is bolstering rental demand in the larger, student-heavy areas which really suffered over the course of the pandemic.