Mortgages for Business said that more landlords are looking to raise capital to invest in further buy-to-let property and make the most of high capital yields.

Remortgaging accounted for 69% of all transactions in Q1, up from 43% in Q4 2012, and the highest level of refinancing since its records started three years ago.

It calculates that average gross yields have risen from 6.3% to 6.4% over the last 12 months on all property types except HMOs. The yield on HMOs has fallen, but from a high level, reducing from 10.7% to 10.5% since March 2012.

Mortgages for business attributes the boost in buy-to-let remortgaging to a combination of these attractive yields and competitive mortgage rates facilitated by the Government’s Funding for Lending scheme.

Added to the remortgage mix is the need for customers of the RBS Group and Bank of Ireland to refinance elsewhere for better rates.

David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said:

“Gross yields are tantalisingly strong at the moment, and that has sparked a real splurge of refinancing as landlords try to unlock enough capital to expand their portfolios and make hay while yields are high. With so much refinancing going on at the moment, we might well see a purple patch of purchasing activity later on in 2013.”