Gone are the days when your junk mail was littered with bumpf from the banks offering loans and mortgages that, it seemed, you simply couldn’t afford to turn down. Lenders were tripping over themselves, trying to entice you with all sorts of packages to borrow from them and getting on the housing ladder was a relatively simple matter of form filling.

You local friendly mortgage broker was inundated with work to secure deals that would see you settled in domestic bliss for many years to come. However, doom and gloom merchants have always predicted this situation could not continue and, indeed, it hasn’t.

However, this is no new phenomenon. Financial markets have fluctuated since the beginning of time and it’s all a matter of when, not if, and just how we are able to ride the storm.

According to the banks, money for lending is fast running out and this reason has been cited for the clampdown in what they are offering. Mortgage brokers are having to work ever harder to actually find any deal, let alone a good one. Two building societies have actually stopped all mortgage lending other than the one that comes with their standard variable rate.

Many banks have stopped the one hundred percent mortgages and even the ninety five percent ones. Mortgage brokers often used these as a way of helping first time buyers onto the property ladder but lenders are calling for much higher deposits to secure their loans, pricing many people out of the market.

House prices have seen a downturn recently and are predicted by economists to fall a further 20% over the next two years, but this is not helping the first time buyer as mortgage costs are exorbitant. Without a mortgage broker to secure a good deal, many are turning to interest-only mortgages in their determination to secure a home of their own - one way or another. It is estimated that 30% of home buyers took this route in January.

This can be spell financial disaster for future years if the correct investments are not made to secure the payoff of the borrowed sum at the end of the whole term. However, this is something that mortgage brokers can help with.

Demand for mortgages, say mortgage brokers, is still there. Despite this, lenders are reducing their product range, increasing mortgage prices and insisting on larger deposits to deter borrowers. All this on top of the recent announcement that the five biggest banks have accrued joint profits of over 39 pounds billion!

The Bank of England has been pouring money into these establishments of late in a bid to ease the current cash crisis so it does beg the question of where it’s all going.

Mortgage brokers will tell you there are still good deals to be had. It just takes a little more work to find them which is exactly what they are there for. They suggest a move away from the bigger banks that can afford to be picky and look instead to the smaller establishment who are still offering good deals. The Post Office is one such source that can get you on that property ladder.

To resist panic borrowing from the wrong lender or being frozen out of the property market all together, take advise from a mortgage broker and you are still in with a good chance of securing a deal that will settle you comfortably on the property ladder.

financial expert catherine harvey looks at the way a mortgage broker can help get you on the property ladder.

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