Over the past week a number of reports have been released regarding landlords and their purchasing/selling activity, or their intentions in that department in the near future, with vastly different pictures being painted depending on which report you read.

On the 11th of November, Paragon Mortgages released its latest Financial Advisors Confidence Tracking (FACT) Index, which has been tracking sentiment amongst financial advisors for more than 20 years. It revealed a buoyant mortgage market driven by growing volumes of first-time buyer lending.

The report, based on data gathered throughout Q3, found that intermediaries are dealing with 23.3 mortgage applications per month. This continues a trend in steady growth that has been in place since 2010. However, despite a modest increase in Q3, levels of re-mortgage business remain on a long-term downward trend having dropped from more than 60% of the market in 2008, to 33% now.

But, according to Paragon, demand for BTL mortgages is still strong as the firm reported: 'Strong tenant demand continues to drive demand for buy-to-let mortgages, with 81% of intermediaries describing demand from landlords as either 'strong' or 'stable'.'