Buy-to-let rush?

Since the FPC's warning, Chancellor George Osborne has announced that stamp duty rates will rise steeply for anyone buying a home that is not their main residence - which would include buy-to-let investors as well as second-home buyers.

But with the higher rates of duty only starting at the beginning of the next financial year, there are worries that there may be a rush by some would-be landlords to buy properties before then, which might help to push up house prices even further.

Lending to landlords has grown rapidly in recent years.

There are now 1.7m buy-to-let mortgages, making up about 16% by value of the total stock of all outstanding mortgages.

Each year, more than two million individual landlords declare rental income to HM Revenue & Customs in their tax returns.

For the 2012-13 financial year, 2.1 million taxpayers declared income from property, up by more than a third from the 1.5 million in 2007-08.

Earlier this year, Mr Carney said the Bank was in discussions with Mr Osborne about obtaining greater powers to regulate the buy-to-let mortgage market.