Quantcast
Menu
Save, make, understand money

Buy To Let

Mortgage availability falls ‘significantly’ in Q3 – BoE

Adam Williams
Written By:
Adam Williams
Posted:
Updated:
07/10/2014

The availability of mortgage finance ‘fell significantly’ over the summer, according to the Bank of England’s latest credit conditions survey.

The Bank said after eight consecutive quarters of growth the availability of loans for house purchases tumbled over the third quarter of the year.

It found lenders had faced operational issues following the implementation of the Mortgage Market Review while concerns had mounted over the future of the housing market, lessening appetite.

Other lenders said the income capping recommendations made by the Financial Policy Committee had caused them to tighten criteria and that a greater percentage of applications were rejected over the third quarter than previously.

However, most lenders expected competition to increase during the last three months of the year.

The first-time buyer market also took a step back with banks and building societies less willing to lend above 90 per cent loan-to-value than previously.

Demand from borrowers for house purchase and remortgage lending also fell significantly during the third quarter although buy-to-let demand increased compared to the previous three months.

The remortgage market is expected to ‘increase significantly’ in Q4, the survey said.