BUY-to-let lending for house purchases plunged by a fifth in March 2018 compared with a year earlier, figures from a trade association show.

There were 5,500 new buy-to-let home purchase mortgages completed in the month - 19 per cent fewer than in the same month last year, UK Finance said.

By value this amounted to £800 million of lending - down 20 per cent year-on-year.

The introduction of a stamp duty hike for second-home owners has seen a weaker mortgage lending trend in the buy-to-let sector. The number of home owners remortgaging also fell back in March this year.

Meanwhile, lending to first-time buyers remained "relatively flat", said UK Finance.

There was £5.1 billion of new lending to first-time purchasers in the month, up two per cent year-on-year.

The average first-time buyer is aged 30 and has a gross household income of £42,000, said the trade body.

Mike Scott, chief property analyst at estate agent Yopa, said first-time buyers have "doubtless" been helped by the sharp fall in the number of buy-to-let mortgages.

He said: "This has reduced competition from buy-to-let investors for the types of properties bought by first-time buyers."

Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, said: "Remortgaging softened after a strong start to the year, fuelled partly by expectations that interest rates would rise in May."