Buy-to-let must be efficiently financed
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Given the chaos in financial markets the regulator's views are entirely understandable but grouping these disparate classes of lending together does little to improve our understanding of the different issues associated with each, and does a particular disservice to buy-to-let.
Yes, there are risks associated with lending to the buy-to-let market, but there are risks associated with every single lending category in the UK. The fact remains that the majority of buy-to-let investors are financially savvy individuals with vast experience of the private rented sector.
A number of buy-to-let lenders have encountered difficulties in recent months, but so has every other lender. It certainly wasn't the performance of buy-to-let that was the cause of these difficulties and buy-to-let continues to perform well relative to other mortgages and a good deal better than other types of non-comforming mortgages.
If private renting is to continue to develop in the manner envisaged by Julie Rugg and David Rhodes' independent review into the private rented sector to deliver affordable and flexible accommodation to an increasingly needy population in the UK, it has to be efficiently financed. This means buy-to-let has a crucial role to play going forward and it is vital therefore that we have high quality information on what works and what doesn't in the sector.
