Buy-to-let business has increased for more than half of brokers in recent weeks as landlords brave the uncertain economic backdrop to take advantage of the stamp duty holiday ahead of next March.

A poll carried out by mortgage adviser forum Cherry found greater demand from both individuals and those buying via a limited company. More than 30 per cent of brokers reported an increase in individual purchases and nearly 27 per cent said they had arranged more deals for limited companies buying BTL properties.

Purchase activity is dominating BTL enquiries, according to the research, which found 57 per cent of brokers had seen a rise in purchases, compared to less than 12 per cent who reported more demand for capital raising on a remortgage. This is a reversal in the trend of recent years.

Clients increasingly have more specialist requirements. Nearly 8 per cent of brokers reported a rise in demand for houses in multiple occupation, and almost 4 per cent had more enquiries for lending on multi-unit blocks of flats and holiday lets.

Short-term lending has also grown in popularity, with nearly 8 per cent of brokers saying they are working with more clients on sourcing bridging for refurbishment products.

Donna Hopton, director at cherry, says: “It’s clear there has been a spike in buy-to-let activity in recent weeks. Whereas the BTL market has been dominated by remortgage business in recent years, it is purchase enquiries that are currently keeping brokers busy.

“This window of opportunity for reduced stamp duty land tax will certainly be helping to drive this demand, but we are seeing that the market is generally buoyant, which is a positive sign for advisers, and the economy.”