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Mortgage lenders 'taking fewer new customers'

Friday, 19 November 2010 9:46 AM

The enthusiasm shown by Britain's mortgage lenders to take on new business has dwindled in recent months and will "keep things slow", MyMortgageDirect has claimed.

Gross mortgage lending plunged to an estimated £12.4 billion in October, marking an annual reduction of around nine per cent.
According to statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, it was also the lowest October figure posted since 2000, when gross lending sunk below £10 billion.

Catherine Hearnden, director at MyMortgageDirect, said: "They seem more unwilling to lend than they were six months ago, which I find amazing. They might be doing higher loan-to-values, but their willingness to give a mortgage offer has declined somewhat."

She added that lenders were making it increasingly difficult for borrowers to prove their income, resulting in conditions she has not experienced in over 20 years.

However, Ms Hearnden went on to say that mortgage providers had gradually eased their lending criteria over the past 12 months and that this should improve further in 2011.

The British Bankers' Association reported last month that there were 31,104 new mortgage approvals in September 2010, compared with 31,781 in the previous month.

Meanwhile, the average value of a new mortgage approval dipped from £143,500 in August to £142,900 in the month that followed.
 

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