BoE: Mortgage availability worsens

People in the UK looking to secure a mortgage could find that credit is harder to come by as we go into 2008, according to figures from the Bank of England.

The Bank's Credit Conditions Survey showed that over the last three months of 2007, the availability of secured credit 'reduced materially'.

"The survey revealed that demand for prime lending for house purchases had been weaker than expected in the fourth quarter of 2007, adding to the mounting evidence that the housing market is cooling markedly," said Howard Archer, chief economist at Global Insight.

According to the report, the reduction in mortgage availability could be attributed to "lenders reducing their risk appetite, and targeting a slightly lower market share" in the wake of the recent credit crunch.

It added that lenders are anticipating a further decline in the availability of secured credit over the first quarter of this year.

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