The total number of buy-to-let mortgage products in the market has grown by 104% over the last three years, according to research from Dafacto.

Its analysis also suggests that intermediary-based products have become even more prevalent in this sector.

Defaqto Matrix data indicate that the number of buy-to-let mortgages available has increased from 237 in October 2008 to 483 currently.

Also, over the last three years there has been a marked growth in the proportion of buy-to-let mortgages that are available through intermediaries. In 2008, 70% of buy-to-let mortgages were broker only products or available through both intermediaries and providers directly – this has now increased to 86%. Over the same period, the number of products only available through brokers has grown from 24% to 60%.

The number of buy-to-let lenders has increased from 56 to 63 – 15 lenders only operate through intermediaries, 18 only distribute directly, with the remaining 30 lenders servicing both channels.

David Black, Defaqto’s insight analyst for banking, said: “The last few years have seen significant growth in the number of buy-to-let mortgage products on the market. This shows that