29
Sep
Buy-to-let not so bad, says CML
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has stated that the
performance of the UK buy-to-let industry remains strong and
insisted that this remains the case despite the nationalisation of
buy-to-let mortgages provider Bradford & Bingley.
A CML statement today said that press coverage of the bank's
problems had given the impression that buy-to-let was in a worse
state that the overall UK mortgage market.
"That is not the case," the body insisted, providing comparative
statistics to back its argument.
These showed that across the whole market, 1.1 per cent of
buy-to-let mortgages were in arrears of three months or more over
the first half of 2008, compared with 1.33 per cent of residential
mortgages, while the repossession rate was identical for both at
0.16 per cent.
Earlier today, shadow chancellor George Osborne told GMTV he
believed that instead of being nationalised, struggling banks like
Bradford & Bingley should be taken over by the Bank of England
and run down under a "special resolution regime" in order to avoid
taxpayers having to foot the bill.
