Mortgage providers 'need to start lending again'

Date:Tuesday 2nd March 2010
Author: Max Freedman

In order for the mortgage market to pick up again lenders need to start offering more deals to consumers, according to one housing market expert.

Catherine Hearnden, director of MyMortgageDirect, said: "There is pressure on the banks to lend, and we think that they have to do it."

She explained that while there are increased loan to value deals coming out, people need to realise that in order to obtain a 90 per cent deal they have to be prepared to pay for it.

The snow and the end of the stamp duty holiday both affected the recovery of the market over the past couple of months, Ms Hearnded believes, as well as conflicting views about the end of the recession putting people off from taking out a mortgage.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders stated earlier this month that there was an estimated 32 per cent fall in mortgage lending between December and January, resulting in the lowest monthly total since February 2000.