Mortgage Rate Rise Would Make Buy-To-Let 'Unviable' In 7 Out Of 10 Regions

Britain’s two million buy-to-let investors are already anxious about what tax changes might do to their property holdings under a new government, as even the Conservatives have been less than supportive. But possibly far more threatening  is the risk of a rise in interest rates. In recent years lenders have been focusing attention on buy-to-let, one of the only points of growth in an otherwise stagnant mortgage market. As a result rates have fallen to all-time lows. But this has coincided with a period in which property prices have risen, in general, far faster than rents. As a result, yields have dropped to record lows. It leaves some landlords – particularly those who have bought recently and borrowed the typical maximum of 75pc of the price – vulnerable to even modest rate increases. Read more on the Daily Telegraph website.