Buy-to-let lenders have widened product choice again, with Buckinghamshire Building Society lifting maximum loan sizes to £750,000, Paragon cutting further advance rates by 20 basis points and ModaMortgages adding new five-year fixes up to 80% loan to value.
The latest changes sharpen a theme that has become clearer this month: lenders are not only trimming rates, but trying to target specific landlord needs such as refurbishment funding, limited company borrowing and larger portfolio loans.
For landlords, that matters now because finance options are starting to reopen in the parts of the market that have felt more constrained. The practical choice is no longer just whether rates are falling, but which lenders are competing hardest for the type of borrowing an investor actually needs.
Lenders target larger loans, further advances and limited companies
Buckinghamshire Building Society has raised the maximum loan amount across its buy-to-let and holiday let ranges from £500,000 to £750,000 and introduced new limited company special purpose vehicle products. Its new expat and holiday let fixes also point to lenders chasing more specialist landlord business rather than just plain vanilla remortgages.
Paragon has lowered the minimum loan size on its buy-to-let further advance range to £2,000, cut rates by 0.20 points and said offers can be issued within 48 hours where a property inspection is not required. ModaMortgages, meanwhile, has launched limited edition five-year fixed products for both individual and limited company landlords, with pricing from 5.14% for single dwellings and 5.24% for HMOs and multi-unit blocks.
Andrew Smart, head of mortgages transformation at Paragon Bank, said a substantial share of the lender’s further advance business is being used by landlords to improve properties, adding that quicker access to finance should help those investing to stay compliant with new regulation.
This follows Residential Landlord’s earlier coverage of Paragon’s push on further advance pricing, and more recent reporting on how ModaMortgages has been expanding landlord choice at higher loan-to-value levels. The latest round suggests lenders are still looking for volume, but with a stronger tilt towards specialist cases.
Competition is broadening beyond headline rate cuts
That matters because some landlords now need flexibility more than the cheapest possible fixed deal. Investors upgrading EPCs, refinancing through company structures or trying to fund works on existing stock may find the market is becoming more usable again, even if rates are not back to the lows seen before 2022.
It is also a sign that lenders think landlord demand is still there. If confidence in the sector had collapsed, there would be little reason to widen criteria, lift loan caps and speed up smaller further advances.
Product details are available from Paragon’s buy-to-let intermediary pages.
Opinion
The market is not back to easy money, but it is getting less one-dimensional. Landlords should read this as a competition story, not just a rate story. The lenders that win business this summer may be the ones solving awkward borrowing problems rather than simply advertising the lowest headline fix.
