Interest in new buy-to-let purchases dropped by over a quarter in March as the Stamp Duty deadline approached, Rightmove reported this morning.

Inquiries were down by 27% compared with March last year, the fall reversing the upward trend between December and February when there was a 24% year-on-year rise.

Rightmove’s head of lettings Sam Mitchell said: “This waning of interest definitely seems to predict a slowdown in the buy-to-let market, but what’s not yet clear is if this will only turn out to be a short-term pause.

“It could be that some investors are waiting until the tax changes have had time to bed in before they review their business and continue to make purchases.

“If this removes some of the competition for smaller properties, then it could spell good news for many first-time buyers.”

According to Rightmove, asking price rents went up 0.8% in the first quarter of this year.

Average asking prices ranged from £2,021 per month across London (up 1.6% on a year ago) to £538 in the north-east (down 0.5%).

However, some of Rightmove’s asking price rents are at odds with newly agreed actual rent figures released this morning by HomeLet.

According to HomeLet, the average rent in London is now £1,536, up 7.7% on a year ago, and across the UK (excluding London) is £755 per month.

In the north-east, however, Rightmove and HomeLet are only £7 apart, with HomeLet quoting £531 a month.

HomeLet also reports that in March 37% of its insurance policies were bought by landlords with new properties. The proportion was 24% last year.