Twenty7tec figures for October show buy-to-let searches fell 13.67% year-on-year, while remortgage searches rose 6.05%.
After five years of strong activity – including a peak in September 2022 when BTL accounted for 21% of all mortgage products – Twenty7tec said landlords appeared to be focused on protecting existing portfolios rather than growing them.
BTL purchases currently account for 33.1% of all landlord searches, meaning two-thirds of current activity relates to remortgages.
In the wider mortgage market, Twenty7tec reported that 28,835 products were online by the end of October, a record high.
This represents an all-time high and Twenty7tec said it showed lenders’ confidence even as purchase demand slows ahead of the autumn budget.
For first-time buyers, searches have dropped to their lowest point this year at 297,387.
Landlords will also be keeping an eye on any moves on property taxes, stamp duty thresholds and rental market incentives.
The biggest headline from last autumn’s Landlord Budget was an increase in additional stamp duty applicable to second homes, investment properties and business investor purchases.
The surcharge will increase from 3% to 5%, effective October 31, 2024.
In the following months, BTL trading volume fell by 9.36% month-on-month in November, and further dropped by 35.28% in December.
Nakita Moss, director of lender relations at Twenty7tec, said: “We are seeing a clear shift in behavior as landlords cope with higher borrowing costs and tighter yields.
“More and more landlords are focusing on refinancing rather than expansion, taking advantage of stable rates to ensure long-term certainty. The era of portfolio growth has been paused – it’s now about resilience and risk management.”
Nathan Reilly, the company’s commercial director, added: “These figures suggest a market transition: stable, active and cautious. Landlords appear to be locking in rates wherever possible, suggesting confidence in the long-term rental market but restraint in terms of expansion.”
