Due to a stamp duty hike beginning in April of this year, buy to let mortgage lending is moving at a fast pace and does not look to slow down any time soon. An increase of more than 35% has occurred last year to November, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. A new 3% taxation will be introduced in transactions involving additional property purchases.

Relief enabling buy to let investors to offset mortgage interest payments with income taxes is also part of tax reform which Chancellor George Osborne is putting into effect this year.

According to new data from the CML, gross buy to let lending increased by almost 50% year on year in November. More than £2bn was for remortgages. Activity within the remortgage market remains strong through January. This trend is expected to continue, according to many housing experts.

Peter Rollings of Marsh & Parsons estate agent, commented on the latest figures from the buy to let sector, saying: "First-time buyers, homemovers and those seeking to remortgage have had it much easier thanks to a rock-bottom base rate, but nowhere was this upswing in lending more evident than in the buy-to-let sector."

Rollings added: "However, this hasn't gone unnoticed by the government and in the short-term the April intervention on stamp duty will ensure that buy-to-let lending continues to be the one to watch over the next few months."

Paul Smee, director general of the CML commented on the latest data concerning lending in general, saying: "There was still growth across all lending types in November compared to the year earlier suggesting continued improvement. Our forecasts anticipate that gross lending will continue a slow but steady upward trajectory over the next two years."