Fleet boasts £1.2bn of business in first year

Buy-to-let lender Fleet Mortgages said that £1.2 billion of business has flowed through its system in its first year of lending.

The figure includes its current pipeline of business, cases which were either declined, cancelled or unselected, and all completed business.

It is currently working at a lending ‘run-rate’ greater than £500 million per year and expects to increase this to £750 million in 2016.

Staff numbers at the business have increased to 54 with the anticipation that this will rise to around 100 by the end of this year.

Total lending was split between three areas with 60% of business for individual buy-to-let, 20% for limited company, and 20% for houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

The average LTV for those cases was 69.9%.

The average property value was £360,000 and the average number of properties owned by a borrower was 11.

In December last year the average rental cover received by each borrower was 199%, well in advance of the 125% required.

Fleet Mortgages’ most popular products by lending value were individual two year fixes at 75% and 65% LTV, followed by a HMO two-year fix at 75% LTV.

Regionally, Fleet Mortgages conducted most business in Greater London, the South East, East Anglia and the South West.

Bob Young, chief executive officer of Fleet Mortgages, said the lender is “now a settled and major force" in the buy-to-let market.

“To have over £1.2 billion placed through our system during that first year, and to be currently working at a run-rate of £500 million-plus and rising is testament to the proposition.

“The support we have had from the intermediary community and our distribution partners since we launched has been staggering and we continue to listen to them and develop our offering – both product and service – to meet their needs.”