43% of brokers reported an improvement in the availability of buy-to-let mortgages during the third quarter of 2010, according to Paragon Mortgages.

Paragon’s research showed that 38% of brokers said buy-to-let mortgage finance availability remained unchanged during the third quarter, whilst 19% said that it had worsened.

A significantly higher proportion of intermediaries believe buy-to-let mortgage availability will improve further during the next quarter (35%) than deteriorate (7%). However, the majority (58%) believe it will remain at current levels.

John Heron, Paragon Mortgages’ managing director, said: “The number of buy-to-let mortgages has been rising in recent months as lenders come back to the market or new lenders are launched