Mortgage intermediaries have reported that remortgaging was responsible for 41% of their business in the first quarter of this year.

The number of properties bought with buy-to-let mortgages increased by around 84,000 last year, according to latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

A new buy-to-let lending product has been launched, containing a bridging element from one lender enabling the purchase to go ahead and a remortgage product from a second lender enabling the investor to know that funding will exist at the end of the bridging term.

Yorkshire Building Society is to roll out its buy-to-let mortgages from today across the whole of England and Wales, after relaxing its criteria.

House purchase lending in November experienced a year-on-year rise for only the second time in 2011, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Buy-to-let landlords who want to add one or two more properties to a small portfolio and have good earnings of their own, may be able to take advantage of a new deal that allows 100% rental income to cover the monthly mortgage payments, and not 125%.