UK buy-to-let: landlords sit tight

The UK’s buy-to-let (BTL) investors have enjoyed a long feast, with plenty of bubbly. At the beginning of 2000 just 1% of all mortgages were of the BTL variety. Now the figure is close to 9%. In seven years the money placed in BTL mortgages has risen twenty-fold. The returns have been high, a happy mix of rental bread and butter and fizz from soaring house prices. But what happens as mortgage rates climb and house price fizz turns flat? Some investors are not waiting to find out. The Royal Insti...