There were 710 buy-to-let mortgage possessions taken in the third quarter of 2024, according to figures just released by UK Finance. 

This is unchanged from the previous quarter, but an increase of a huge 73.2% on the same quarter a year previously

And at the end of Q3 2024 there were 13,000 BTL mortgages in arrears greater than 2.5% of the outstanding balance. This was down 570 from the previous quarter but 19% higher than in the same quarter a year previously.

The statistics come in UK Finance’s quarterly BTL data release, examine trends within the landlord mortgage market. 

In Q3 2024 there were 48,862 new buy to let loans advanced in the UK, worth £8.6 billion. This was up 6.5% by number and 8.9% by value compared with the same quarter in the previous year.

The average gross buy-to-let rental yield for the UK in Q3 2024 was 6.93%, compared with 6.53% in the same quarter in the previous year.

The number of BTL fixed rate mortgages outstanding in Q3 2024 was 1.4m, 3.3% up on a year previously. In contrast, the number of variable rate loans outstanding fell by 14.9% to 541,488.

The average interest rate across all new buy to let loans in the UK was 5.22% in Q3 2024. This was 0.03 basis points higher than in the previous quarter, but 0.09 basis points lower than in the same quarter of 2023.

Reflecting the movements in interest rates, the average buy-to-let interest cover ratio (ICR) for the UK in Q3 2024 was 195%, still up from 190% in Q1 2024, and 9 basis points higher than a year previously.