Mortgage woe figures revealed

The difficulties faced by some who are planning to take on mortgages has been revealed by a new survey.

GE Money Home Lending has found that in the last 18 months 3.4 million people have been turned down for a mortgage at least once.

In addition to this, one-in-eight (458,000) have had to apply four or more times before being successful, while a further 412,000 have failed every time despite making several applications.

The firm said this trend has been influenced by the credit crunch, with lenders raising the bar on their qualification criteria.

Would-be homeowners struggling to get the loan they want may look to the self-build option, where the potentially lower cost of obtaining a home in such a way could lead to a reduction in the size of loan needed, making acceptance of an application more likely.

In related news, Council of Mortgage Lenders figures yesterday showed that gross mortgage lending in July was 27 per cent lower than 12 months earlier.