The amount of money borrowed to fund buy to let property purchases plummeted by 56 percent at the end of last year.

Rising interest rates made it increasingly difficult for buy to let landlords to cover repayments on buy to let mortgages.

The net effect is that it was no longer seen as an easy option to build property wealth and earn a good income.

Many have been inspired by TV shows such as the BBC’s Homes Under the Hammer to buy properties cheap at auction, renovate them and then rent them…