The UK housing market seems to be weathering the storm and holding on with the help of those hopeful home owners that are determined to reach their goal. While interest rates are low, cheap, and full of savings, the rush to save, get a fixed rate, and remortgage is not yet been taken advantage of with experts citing that homeowners aren’t responding to the opportunities out there.

It appears there could be something that will push borrowers into the path of lenders and that is a tightening of lending that cannot be helped.

So far, borrowers have become used to low interest rates, an abundance of offers, and lenders battling out for their attention in a competitive market, but that could be coming to a close.

If lenders are pushed to face higher costs to offer lending to borrowers then they have no choice but to make it more expensive. They are, after all, in business for profit, they have to make money or they can’t be successful. In other words, they can’t give away money at risk to borrowers for free.

Lending is likely to begin to tighten, especially as the year draws to a close as lenders will be looking at their progress and ability to offer lending competitively. It may no longer matter that customers are rare, it will come down to making it work for them that interest rates will begin to rise, look less attractive, and all without any change in the Bank’s rate. Lenders will lower their risk, increase their costs to borrowers, and tighten their lending process.

In the end, borrowers that have been sitting in front of a table full of bounty will be pushed to diet. There will be less plentiful attractive offers and more work to be done by the borrower to shop for the best deals, including home buyers looking to mortgage and homeowners looking to remortgage.

This environment of lending could be about to look leaner, tighter, and less plentiful. Only time will tell what the Brexit vote, the state of the global economy, and the UK economy will dictate for those pulling up to the lending table.