Now 85 year olds can have buy to let mortgages
A specialist buy to let lender is increasing the maximum age of the borrower at the end of the mortgage term from 75 to 85 years old.
Fleet Mortgages says that as a result of the so-called pension freedoms – the ability of pensioners to use all or some of their pension savings for one-off expenditure – there will be a growing number of retirees who wish to invest in buy to let.
The firm – which only began lending mortgages late last year – says that since its launch around 50 per cent of its clients have been aged over 50. In the first three months of 2015 Fleet Mortgages had £145 million worth of buy-to-let business put through its system by intermediaries, with an average loan size across all types of products of £245,000.
“Fleet Mortgages is committed to evolving and enhancing our criteria in order to ensure it is fit for purpose in a changing marketplace – this why we have increased our maximum customer age, at the end of loan, up from 75 to 85 years old’ say the firm’s chief executive Bob Young.
“We recognise, for instance, that people are living longer, that landlords want to hold their properties longer into retirement plus there is a growing appetite amongst people over 50 wanting to invest in property.”