There was a huge rise in the number of buy to let property repossessions in the last quarter of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

A report from lenders’ trade body UK Mortgage says there were 500 BTL mortgage possessions taken in Q4 2023, up 56% on Q4 2022.

The same report also revealed that at the end of Q4 2023 there were 13,570 BTL mortgages in arrears greater than 2.5% of the outstanding balance. This was 124% higher than a year earlier.

The report also gives a series of other stats from the sector. For example, the value of new BTL lending for the UK in Q4 2023 was £6.3bn, down 55% compared with the same quarter in the previous year, and the average gross BTL rental yield for the UK in Q4 2023 was 6.7%, compared with 5.9% in the same quarter in 2022.

A corresponding figure is that the average interest rate across all new BTL loans in the UK rose to 5.7% in Q4 2023, up from 3.7% a year previously. As a result, the average BTL interest cover ratio (ICR) for the UK in Q4 2023 fell to 180%, compared with 238% a year earlier.