Mortgage lenders 'need to offer more lending'

Date:Tuesday 4th November 2008
Author:

The property market needs to see "mortgage lenders lending" in order to recover, it has been claimed.

Helen Adams, managing director of first-time buyers' website FirstRungNow.com said that first-time buyers suffer from a lack of available mortgages.

She added that even buy-to-let mortgages are expensive at present.

Ms Adams noted that mortgage companies have recently been adding incentives for savers to invest more money, which she said would eventually lead to an increase in mortgages being made available.

"I can't see people rushing into getting out new mortgages or increasing their mortgages at a time of uncertainty," she said.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders have shown that 42,000 home loans were approved in August this year, compared to 48,000 in the previous month.

This compares to 103,000 in August 2007.

According to Hometrack, house prices fell by 1.3 per cent in October this year when compared to the previous month and by 7.3 per cent when compared to the same period in 2007.