Those involved in the buy-to-let sector such as private landlords are involved in a "crucial part" of the UK’s property market.

According to Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) operations manager Ian Potter, buy-to-let is an important element of the whole housing sector and recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) on the industry are welcome.

He was commenting after the CML published data showing that buy-to-let lending grew for the first time in two years during the third quarter of 2009.

At £2.1 billion, gross lending was ten per cent higher than in the previous three-month period, while the number of mortgages advanced rose from 21,600 to 23,700 between quarters.

Mr Potter said the research "suggests that the market is getting back on its feet following two years of pain through a lack of lending from high street banks".

He also drew attention to recent Arla statistics showing the private rented sector in a good light, saying that the average private landlord has increased the number of properties in their portfolio from 6.3 to 7.0 over the last year.

Written by Mark Garner

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