The lender will launch into the province in April, after completing the final system tests, and is hoping to secure a share of the burgeoning NI market.
Paul Marland, AGM intermediary sales at West Brom for Intermediaries, said:
“It is slightly different in NI as rental valuations are quite low compared to the valuation of the property, but people have a different investment strategy. There are lots of people with two or three properties but not many portfolio landlords and many people are buying for family as they know, at the current rate of inflation, prices will soon be out of reach for first-time buyers.”
West Brom already has a small mainstream offering in NI but this is its first major push into the market.
Marland believed the move was logical if it was to be considered a serious player in the buy-to-let market.
“Most of the big BTL lenders, such as BM Solutions, Mortgage Express and UCB Home Loans, are in Northern Ireland and there is a big opportunity in BTL there. You can’t sit still in the BTL market and we always want to try new things.”
Ken Sives, partner at Sives Financial Services, said:
“It’s fair to say a good chunk of sales at the moment are buy-to-let and this will continue. Belfast is a little difficult at the minute as rents are hard to meet with the property prices being
quite high.”
