Here is a summary of the key changes and announcements in the mortgage market for this week.

• Gross Mortgage Lending for January hit its highest level since 2008. Data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders confirmed £18,9bn lent, which was an increase of 6% from December 2016 and 2% up on January 2016. The market has seen a marked change, with weakness in the BTL sector being offset by First Time Buyers and remortgages. With banks continuing to support the market with great rates and improving criteria, there is a positive outlook for 2017.
• Kent Reliance is the latest bank to reduce rates. Looking to the hard hit BTL market, KRBS has made changes to its Ltd Co BTL range, with a variable rate now being 2.99%. with more clients looking to LTD co lending, this is another sign of the increasing competitiveness in that part of the market.
• Santander have made a slight improvement to policy on Interest Only clients. They have now increased the maximum age that they will lend to and can now accept clients looking to borrow up to their 70^th birthday. This improvement is welcome, as does help those older clients, who tend to have repayment vehicles and want to use this strategy to repay the mortgage.

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