Mortgage lending misery looks to continue for much longer than just the past five years.  The last five years has seen very little change in the ability for anyone searching for an attractive mortgage or remortgage deal to find all the right traits to make it possible.  Ever since the meltdown in the mortgage lending side five years ago borrowers have waited patiently for the sun to shine down on them.  The wait seems to be ongoing as lenders are hesitant to offer anything which is not iron clad.

The number of deals available to first timers now compared with five years ago is staggering.  There are currently almost 250 deals total first timers can choose from as opposed to more than 900 back in 2007.  That is a 75% decrease in the number of opportunities.  To say the property ladder is difficult to step on right now is an understatement.

Grant Shapps commented on the current state of the housing market, saying: "It's ridiculously expensive for people to buy houses in this country. I'm in complete agreement that there's a housing crisis."

Mark Harris of SPF Private Clients spoke about the difficulty obtaining mortgage lending.  He said: "No longer can you have the odd missed mortgage or mobile phone payment on your credit file; when you make your application, it had better be squeaky clean or it will be rejected. If you are self-employed you will need at least two years of good accounts to prove your income in order to get a mortgage; any less and you will have to delay your move or remortgage."

Lenders will have to step forward and take more risks and borrowers will have to acquire more to put on to the table to move forward.  The possibility of these things happening might take longer than anticipated.