Rejected mortgage applications rise by 60%

In the past six months the number of mortgage applications being rejected has gone up by a staggering 60 per cent.

According to recent research by MoneyExpert.com, the amount of rejections this year has risen from 463,000 between January and March to 738,000 in the last six months.

The increase reflects interest rate rises and more specific lending criteria, the website explained.

Its chief executive, Sean Gardner, commented: “Life is tough at the moment if you’re applying for a mortgage. The financial environment is far more stringent than in the summer of last year and people need to be prepared for rejection.

“Lenders quite reasonably do not want to take risks when there are pressures on how much people can afford.”

Standard and Poor rating agency told the Financial Times newspaper that the mortgage slowdown is due to a “knock” to buyer confidence after the credit squeeze.

It added that mortgage lenders might look to further tighten underwriting standards and pricing on some types of mortgages.

Tags: January, slowdown, mortgage, tighten underwriting standards, financial, underwriting, poor, Financial Times newspaper