Marsden Building Society has launched a buy-to-let product for expats and a short-term residential mortgage.
The five-year expat buy-to-let product is available at a rate of 4.24 per cent and Steve Robinson, head of lending at the Marsden, said it has been introduced to meet "growing demand" in the market.
He said: "We’ve done a full refresh of our mortgage range and reviewed where our lending solutions support intermediaries best.
"As part of this, we’ve introduced a five-year fixed expat buy-to-let product to meet a growing demand in this market."
The lender has also introduced a short-term mortgage, available at 5.24 per cent up to 60 per cent loan-to-value and with a maximum of two-year product term on interest only.
The product has no early repayment charges, allowing the borrower to repay the loan at any time during the two-year period.
Mr Robinson said the short-term mortgage had been introduced as brokers were looking for an alternative to a bridging loan.
He said: "We were finding many intermediaries looking for options for their clients who are in the process of buying and potentially need a short-term mortgage.
"This is a new initiative that we’re trialing in the market and welcome feedback from brokers and their clients."
David Hollingworth, associate director of communications at London & Country Mortgages, said: "Both these areas are likely to be ones that are relatively niche but will see a level of demand that isn’t supported by the majority of lenders.
"Expats looking to retain or build a foothold in the UK property market will find that many lenders cannot help and similarly those looking for what is effectively a short term lending situation may find that their options from mainstream lenders can be limited."
Mr Hollingworth added: "As a smaller mutual lender, Marsden clearly recognises that its strengths can be brought to bear in these areas, providing a more individual approach and consequently solid experience and expertise in the areas like expat lending.
"This type of thinking can really help to carve out new areas for lenders and help build on their core portfolio."
rachel.addison@ft.com
