The number of new mortgage deals for buy to let landlords has fallen by more than two thirds over the past year, leaving many landlords with a struggle to remortgage.

New research by price comparison website moneysupermarket.com has shown a 50 per cent increase in the number of mortgage enquiries from buy-to-let investors at the same time as a 70 per cent reduction in the number of remortgaging deals available.

The number of buy-to-let loans peaked in the latter half of 2007 at 176,500 just before the collapse of Northern Rock and the credit crisis that followed. Many of these mortgages are likely to have been two year deals which will come to an end over the coming months.

The latest Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures have shown that the number of buy-to-let mortgage deals agreed in the second quarter of 2009 is more than four times less that in the same period last year.

Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgage channel manager at moneysupermarket.com advised:

“Our figures show nearly ten per cent of those looking for a mortgage are looking for a buy-to-let mortgage.

With significantly less products left on the market and high interest rates attached to those available we could potentially have a ticking buy-to-let time bomb on our hands.”

Rates for remortgaging deals have fallen alongside the reduced interest rates and the average is now 5.88 per cent however, this is more than 2 per cent higher than the average residential mortgage deal.