Robust future predicted for buy-to-let sector

Despite the fact that recent housing market surveys suggest the housing market is set for a marked downturn, the buy-to-let sector will remain buoyant, it has been claimed.

Interest rate cuts and sustained demand from tenants will ensure the buy-to-let market continues in rude health, Fionnuala Earley, the chief economist at Nationwide, has suggested.

"There will be those investors who want to crystallise gains, but those will be the speculators who are struggling to get tenants," Ms Earley told the Times.

"We are in a market where there is great tenant demand because first-time buyers are unable to get on to the housing ladder."

The Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed recently that there are now more buy-to-let landlords than first-time buyers.

Meanwhile, Halifax has reported that 300,000 entered the housing market last year - the lowest number since 1980.