They reported lending of £10bn in landlord mortgages in the final quarter of 2015, compared with £7.7bn a year earlier.

The proportion of buy-to-let lending increased to 15.9% of total lending, while balances outstanding on landlord mortgages in the final quarter of 2015 climbed to £178.2bn.

The quarterly report, Mortgage Lenders & Administrators Return (MLAR), is completed by regulated lenders, which include banks, building societies, credit unions and other specialist lenders, to cover mortgage transactions.

Rates down

Overall product interest rates fell to their lowest level in quarter four since the series began in 2007.

In the final quarter of 2015, the average interest rate fell to 2.71%. Fixed-rate products continued to be the dominant product type, increasing slightly in popularity and accounting for 84% of all product types issued, up from 81% in quarter three and 82% in Q4 2014.

Affordability

The data revealed that borrower affordability remained stable in Q4 2015. Sole borrowers taking out mortgages with an income multiple of more than four times their income increased by 0.5% to 10.2% of total loans.

Joint applicants borrowing more than three times their income increased by just less than 1% over the quarter to reach 30% of all mortgage transactions. Gross mortgage lending at loan-to-values (LTV) of more than 90% fell back by 0.1% over the quarter to 3.2%.