After one of the worst years in memory for the home owner loan and mortgage market, we are slowly starting to see some signs of recovery as banks and building societies begin to launch some more competitive loan products, at more affordable rates and higher loan to value ratios.

However, this is not the case across the whole of the market and landlords in particular are finding it increasingly difficult to obtain the buy to let loans they require in order to expand their portfolios, with around half of them struggling to find suitable funding through loans, according to a new survey from LSL Property Services.

According to the survey, 49 per cent of landlords believe that now is a good time to invest in additional property, before prices start to increase and although most would like to buy more houses, only 27 per cent think that they will be able to afford to make any purchases at all, due to a lack of availability of buy to let loans. Only 12 per cent of those surveyed thought that getting the necessary loan funding they required would not be a problem for them.

David Brown at LSL Property Services said “2009 saw the buy to let market return as a viable investment. Landlords recognise this, despite the rough ride they had to endure over the last couple of years. The average landlord made losses in 2007-8, but 2009 marked a return to form for property investment. But the availability, or lack of, of mortgage finance is holding the sector back. Even experienced landlords who are keen to take advantage of lucrative returns and improving market conditions can’t get access to the cash they need.”