The mortgage market is being stifled by the requirement for first-time buyers to come forward with large deposits, it has been suggested.
According to MyMortgageDirect, conditions may be improving, but they remain difficult for those looking to take their inaugural step on the property ladder.
Recent Council of Mortgage Lenders research shows that the aggregate loan-to-value ratio on mortgaged property in the UK is less than 60 per cent.
MyMortgageDirect director Paul Hearnden noted that this makes things tough for first-time buyers.
“The problem is that it is stifling the market,” he said.
“The only way that we’re seeing first time buyers being able to get that much deposit together is [where] their parents are remortgaging their properties to release equit or giving them savings required to put down a big enough deposit for them to get on the housing ladder.”
Meanwhile, recent Which? figures showed that 14 per cent of homeowners are struggling to keep up their mortgage repayments.