They own land! Give them money!

From the FT:

 

Buy-to-let landlords could be the biggest beneficiaries of the Bank of England's expanded Funding for Lending Scheme, providing another state-backed fillip to the property market. The BoE gave the go-ahead on Wednesday for banks tapping its new funding mechanism for small- and medium-sized businesses to be allowed to lend the money on to property investors...

 

Landlords have already benefited under the existing FLS as banks and building societies have passed on lower borrowing costs. The average buy-to-let rate has fallen from 5.09 per cent in August, when the FLS was launched, to 4.28 per cent today, according to figures from Moneyfacts, the financial data provider. This helped push buy-to-let lending up 19 per cent [of all new lending] last year, with the number of buy-to-let mortgages reaching its highest level in four years.

 

So that's the landlords sorted, and how much are the banks paying for the benefit of these taxpayer-backed loans?

 

From City AM:

 

WHAT FUNDING IS ON OFFER TO BANKS?

 

■ Banks and building societies can now access ultra-cheap funds from the Bank of England until January 2015 – an extra year on the previous setup

 

■ For institutions expanding their lending, the funds cost just 0.25 percentage points per year

 

■ Those reducing lending have to pay more, on a sliding scale up to a maximum of 1.5 percentage points per year

 

■ Funds provided under the scheme then last for four years.