The specialist lender, CHL Mortgages, has recently confirmed a further improvement in its buy-to-let mortgage book arrears levels, particularly when compared against the industry average.

Earlier in November the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) had revealed its quarter three arrears and possession figures. The number of buy-to-let mortgages more than three months in arrears declined from 28,300 (1.57% of the total) to 26,300 (1.45%). Adding in the numbers of arrears that flow from both receivers (0.47%) and all repossessions (0.22%), gives an overall industry average at 2.14%.

In comparison, CHL’s own figures for Q3 2011 show three-month arrear levels at 0.46%, receivers at 0.97% and all repossessions at 0.28%, giving an overall figure of 1.71% which is a 43bps differential between CHL and the CML industry average figures.

Bob Young, Managing Director at CHL Mortgages, commented: “We like to show the market how our buy-to-let mortgage book is performing in comparison to the industry averages recently announced by the CML”, said Bob Young, Managing Director at CHL Mortgages. “Once again we are able to show our arrears levels out-performing the national figure and, while the gap has narrowed slightly, this is still a significant 43bps difference.

“We are particularly proud of our work in this area especially as we continue to manage a book with over 44,000 live mortgage accounts. Our emphasis will remain on delivering the human touch to our borrowers and working with them through any potential and/or ongoing payment difficulties they may have. Our work in this area will continue and we believe that 2011 will close with our arrears levels at an even lower percentage – our end of October figure was 1.7% – a fitting end to the year,” Young concluded.