Interest in buy-to-let jumps in 2011 - study

There has been a major upswing in the number of landlords looking for mortgage advice in the last year, according to a recent report. The latest data presented by unbiased.co.uk's Find a Mortgage Adviser search discovered that the buy-to-let market is becoming a much more attractive proposition to investors on the housing ladder.

Interest in the buy-to-let market was highlighted by a massive rise in enquiries, which rose to 25 per cent in October from a year-to-month average of 17 per cent. It has since remained at that level, owing to the highest-ever number of buy-to-let searches recorded by the website.

Meanwhile, first-time buyers represented the most popular demographic for mortgage advice during 2011. Data concluded that between January and December 2011, consumer searches from first-time buyers overtook every other area to end the year at 36% of all enquiries. It peaked during August - the usual peak of house-buying during any year - when it climbed to 41 per cent of all searches.

"Mortgage advisers should be encouraged by these figures and look forward to a busy 2012, as we are entering the traditional home buying season," said Karen Barrett, unbiased.co.uk chief executive. "We are also seeing signs of the buy-to-let market picking up and we expect 2012 to show a continuation of that trend."