Skipton Building Society has announced it will now lend up to 75% on new build flats, having previously not lent on them at all, as part of its buy-to-let policy changes taking effect on 29 March.

The building society has made the change after seeing that its clients were considering the purchase of new build flats to rent, out of consideration for environmental and energy efficient advantages.

The building society has also increased its minimum property value from £50,000 to £75,000 and updated its buy-to-let (BTL) stress calculations, reducing the stress rates from 5% to 4.5% on five-year or longer fixed-rate products.

The policy changes have been made following feedback from clients and in response to changing market conditions and requirements.

Skipton intermediary lead John Scrivens says: “We regularly seek feedback from brokers, and we have seen a real shift in that feedback recently, the BTL market is changing and the topic of more energy efficient properties is becoming a regular conversation point with landlords.

“It is, therefore, really exciting that not only are we entering the new build flat market for BTL, but we are keeping things simple by lending up to 75% on them too.”