First Time Buyers Little Hope for Increased Lending

First time property buyers still face problems in securing UK mortgage offers and there is little to suggest lending will increase this year.

This is the view of Ray Boulger, senior technical manager at John Charcol, who was surprised that the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) increased the forecast for gross lending from £136 billion to £140 billion this year.

However, he was unsurprised by the organisation's net UK mortgage lending prediction."I think the [CML] forecast of an increase in net lending from £6 billion to £9 billion [in 2011] makes good sense. But frankly I am surprised that they forecast net lending to fall as low as £6 billion in the first place," he commented.

"The wholesale markets are beginning to recover, albeit still fairly slowly."
The CML also predicted gross mortgage lending will rise to £150 billion next year, which could help more first time buyers secure finance to purchase a home.

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