Keystone Buy to Let Mortgages has launched two product ranges, aiming to cater more closely to landlords’ changing borrowing needs.
The new ranges are called ‘Classic’ and ‘Premier’. The Classic range provides a mixture of both fixed and discounted tracker rates up to a maximum of 80% loan to value for loans of £50,000 to £400,000. It also has rates up to 75% LTV for landlords looking for loans of up to £600,000. The rates in the Classic range are available on standard buy-to-lets, multi-units and HMO properties.
Meanwhile, the new Premier range caters for landlords looking to borrow even larger amounts, making loans between £600,000 and £1m available to 70% LTV on standard buy-to-lets and multi-unit property.
The existing Keystone rates will run alongside the new ranges until 21 February when they will be withdrawn from the market. The lender concedes that the current rates are slightly cheaper than the new ones.
David Whittaker (pictured), managing director of Keystone, said: “The increase in LTV and loan amounts has been made in direct response to feedback from landlords operating in London and the South East where property prices are, on average, considerably higher than elsewhere in the UK.
“However, this change in criteria will ease not only their borrowing requirements but also landlords operating in other affluent areas where prices are on the up. For example, since the beginning of the year, we’ve had numerous enquiries for larger loans from brokers north of the border with clients looking to invest in some of the major Scottish cities.”
Rob Lankey, managing director of commercial mortgages at Aldermore, which funds the Keystone products, said: “The cost of three and five year funds has been rising in recent months and the new ranges allow us to adjust our pricing accordingly.
“However, we appreciate that brokers often spend a lot of time putting together deals that stack up before submitting applications, so this overlap will give them time to finish the cases they are currently working on without having to redo the figures.”