Mortgages currently "extremely difficult" to secure

Date:Wednesday 19th May 2010
Author: Max Freedman

People trying to secure a mortgage may be feeling like it is an uphill struggle and one sector expert has suggested this is because the market is currently very tough.

Chief executive officer of Firstrung Paul Holmes suggested that underwriting has made a comeback, with lenders looking at each case individually, rather than relying on an automated model.

He explained: "The public's perception that it is harder to get a mortgage is correct. It is extremely hard to get a mortgage in relation to how easy it was a couple of years ago."

In his view, all individuals needed a few years ago to get a mortgage deal was "a heartbeat and a passport", but nowadays the market is more similar to the situation in the 1970s and 1980s.

His remarks were made following research by unbiased.co.uk, which suggested that people are not aware of how much they can borrow to buy a house, with 22 per cent believing that they can only get between 0.5 and 2.5 times their salary.