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The freezing up of the buy-to-let mortgage market that emerged as an unwelcome side-effect of the credit crunch appears to have eased a little, according to the latest buy-to-let survey results from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

While buy-to-let lending still remains very subdued and ongoing challenges remain, in the second quarter of 2010 the number of buy-to-let mortgages taken out was 24,900. This was 13% up on the 22,000 in the first quarter, and 15% higher than the 21,600 in the second quarter of 2009.

Buy-to-let investors have proven that interest rates are more of a worry than price drops, government spending cuts and douple-dip recessions.

The survey conducted by property investment education group YPC showed that 78% of the investors surveyed said that raising interest rates was their biggest concern, 18% said government spending cuts, 9% a double-dip recession and 3% falling house prices.

The latest Young Index survey of residential investment sentiment shows that landlords are increasingly confident about the London market.

Despite continuing concerns surrounding access to appropriate mortgage finance, a significant proportion of investors hope to increase their residential property holdings over the coming 12 months; focused firmly on the capital.

With the housing market still in a state of flux and predictions that house prices may fall further, many homeowners who are looking to move may consider renting their property out instead of selling.

However, moneysupermarket.com has warned homeowners who are considering this option to make sure they take out adequate landlords insurance as standard home insurance policies become invalid once you earn an income from your property.

The number of landlords planning to purchase residential property for investment purposes has nearly doubled, new research has revealed.

Paragon’s Trends research, a quarterly panel survey of landlords, shows that 21% of landlords plan to purchase property during the third quarter of the year, up from 11% who said they planned to purchase during the first quarter and 12% who planned to purchase in the second.

Tenant eviction and rent collection specialists Landlord Assist believe the buy to let sector will continue to be a sound investment despite landlords being presented with a 10% increase in Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in the Emergency Budget.

The rate at which the tax is charged on non-business assets has increased from 18% to 28% for higher earners, but not to the 40% that had been widely predicted.

The proportion of buy-to-let remortgage business being handled by brokers fell to its lowest level for five years during the first quarter of 2010.

Paragon’s Financial Adviser Confidence Tracking Index, a panel-based survey of mortgage brokers, found that remortgaging accounted for 28% of buy-to-let business during the period, down from 30% in the final quarter of 2009. This is the fifth consecutive quarterly fall and the lowest level since the first quarter of 2005.

Students should check their tenancy agreements with a solicitor or their NUS office after a survey showed that many are signing documents that fail to protect their housing rights, warns online property specialist Student Housing.

Many letting agents and private landlords have ‘boilerplate’ tenancy agreements that are amended over time and do not necessarily keep up with changes in the law.

Buy to let landlords are getting out their calculators to see how lenders withdrawing interest only mortgages might affect portfolio profitability, says Steve Sims of landlord tax web site Property Investment Expert.

Most landlords have interest only deals with their lenders because they are cheaper than repayment mortgages and the property business objective is to sell a property at a profit to repay any loan while keeping costs low to free cash flow.

Data published by the CML shows that buy-to-let activity in the first three months of this year settled back to former levels, following a modest upturn in house purchase by investors at the end of last year triggered by the stamp duty holiday.

As a result, the number of buy-to-let loans declined by 15% to 22,000 in the first three months of 2010. Over the same period, the value of lending also declined, by 12% to £2.1 billion.

Leaving aside the impact of the stamp duty holiday, however, buy-to-let lending has now remained broadly flat over each of the last five quarters.