Bradford & Bingley has predicted that buy-to-let mortgages will continue to outperform the mainstream market. The Guardian. Daily Telegraph. The Times. Financial Times

Britain's biggest buy-to-let lender sounded a bullish note yesterday, although it admitted that four interest rate hikes since August had led to a slowdown in the market. The buy-to-let market has been growing faster than the rest of the mortgage market as rising migrant and student numbers have fuelled demand for rental property.

B&B predicted profits near the top end of forecasts of between £358m and £377m, after a strong first half, equivalen to a rise of up to 12% from last year's £336m. It estimates that residential lending in the first half almost doubled from the £2.4bn reported a year ago.