Buy to let lending has increased by 32 per cent year-on-year, as first-time-buyers continue to struggle to get onto the property ladder.

Some 32,300 loans worth £3.7 billion were advanced in the first quarter of this year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

The buy to let sector has increased its share of the mortgage market in recent months and years, representing 12.8 per cent of outstanding lending at the end of March 2012, from 12.2 per cent in the first three months of 2011.

Private rents rose dramatically in 2011 as people unable to raise the deposit needed to get on the housing ladder remained in rented homes.

This has led to some lenders expanding their ranges for landlords amid renewed interest in the sector, although the average maximum loan-to-value available remains at 75 per cent.

Paul Diggle, a property economist at Capital Economics, said: “With all the evidence suggesting that landlords are having little difficulty letting properties to frustrated would-be buyers, that share is only likely to grow.”

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