Santander BTL launch delayed to March

Brokers say Santander’s broker arm Abbey for Intermediaries has plans to offer Buy-to-let products up to 75% loan to value to landlords with one to three properties and will cap arrangement fees at £1,000 as opposed to charging a percentage fee.

Santander has been rumoured to be about to launch into buy-to-let for over a year but a source from a national network said this is the second delay this year, the first being in April.

Brokers and lenders already in the buy-to-let market have been clamouring for a third large lender to get into the sector to heat up competition properly.

Today Andy Castle, corporate account manager at The Mortgage Works, Nationwide’s buy-to-let and broker arm, revealed his estimates of existing market shares for the biggest buy-to-let lenders at the Mortgage Intelligence annual conference in Wales.

He said: “We believe TMW has about 30% market share while we think BM Solutions does around 40% and Coventry about 10%.

“We’re awaiting Abbey’s entry into the market and I think that will shake things up – when it happens.”

RBS is also rumoured to be thinking about a buy-to-let launch.

Santander has not confirmed that it is to enter the buy-to-let market though it has said it is looking at the sector.