Rating agency scores UK buy-to-let industry strongly

Tuesday 7th August 2012

The performance of the UK’s buy-to-let mortgage market has improved, says ratings agency Moody’s.

Looking at the three months up to May, it said repossessions remained stable and that it expected performance in the buy-to-let sector to remain steady.

Moody’s said: “Performance in this sector has been stable for the past year mainly because of a low interest rate environment, which has helped borrower affordability, and relatively low job losses, which have helped tenants continue to pay their rent.

“Interest rates will remain low in 2012 and unemployment will rise only slightly to 8.7% in 2012 from an average of 8.0% in 2011.

“Also, house prices will remain within a plus-or-minus 3% band, which will help contain losses on foreclosed properties.”