Paragon Mortgages’ first quarter 2005 survey of mortgage advisors and brokers shows a rise in the number of landlords increasing the size of their portfolios, and a slight fall in the number of ‘novice’ first time buyer landlords – suggesting that the buy-to-let market is beginning to mature after a period of strong growth.

The proportion of landlords expanding their portfolios rose this quarter from 39% to 41%, while the number of people buying their first investment property decreased slightly from 27% to 24%.

Paragon’s John Heron comments: “Remortgaging remains by far the most important reason for arranging a loan, but a large proportion of borrowers – almost four in ten – do so to reduce outgoings. Those who do remortgage in order to fund expenditure are now more likely to put the money into a long-term property investment rather than using it for short-term consumer spending: 25% spend it on home improvements and 17% on a second property. This quarter has seen an increase in the number of borrowers remortgaging to purchase a second property, reflecting the fact that landlords are taking advantage of a weaker housing market, in order to buy properties at lower prices.”