Buy-to-let homeowners wishing to find a mortgage could now look to John Charcol's new three-year option.
The three-year version of the mortgage lender's Federal Reserve mortgage is aimed specifically at the buy-to-let market.
Buy-to-let mortgage lenders will initially pay a mortgage rate of 3.49 per cent until the end of this year. Payments from January 1st 2006 will be based on a US dollar Libor-linked pay-rate. This mortgage rate is currently lower than its UK equivalent.
At the end of the three-year mortgage term, the mortgage rate will be set at 1.15 per cent above the UK three-month Libor rate. This currently stands at 5.78 per cent. The overall APR on the buy-to-let mortgage will be 6.3 per cent.
Although the differential between the average US dollar three-month Libor rate and its UK equivalent was likely to narrow in the short term, the new buy-to-let mortgage would still provide good value compared to conventional tracker rates, said John Charcol's Ray Boulger.
"Providing the average UK three month Libor rate exceeds the average US equivalent by at least 0.5 per cent for the three years of this deal, the average rate on this mortgage will provide excellent value compared with conventional trackers," the senior technical manager continued.
According to the mortgage lender, existing buy-to-let property owners will benefit from the initial low monthly repayments and will get sufficient rental income from their property to qualify for the maximum 80 per cent loan to value mortgage.
