There were numerous warnings over the past few months that the buy-to-let market might have finally peaked. However this did not deter many buy to let investors who continued to dive into the property market.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders which takes measurements on the amount of lending taking place says that buy-to-let loans went up by nearly a quarter in 2007. Current figures show that just over a million buy-to-let mortgages are held in the UK.

With such high demand for buy-to-let customers the whole market has been buoyed and the second half of 2007 showed that lending had picked up.  This is despite the credit crunch hitting home loan acceptances.

However, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) claims that the number of new instructions from landlords fell by the end of 2007. This is the first time that their annual survey has shown a fall in this area since 1998.

Rics claim that whilst tenant demand remains strong, it has definitely weakened.

Many property experts have long been warning the danger of a slowdown in the market so the strong figures for buy-to-let come as a bit of a surprise.

Warnings that the property market is finally going to slow down have been coming since the middle of last year, with property prices showing a definite slow down since last summer.