As traditional routes to borrowing, such as unsecured personal loans, become less available to consumers, lenders have reported a surge in the uptake of UK home loans over recent months.
One of the UK’s largest lending institutions has reported that the number of enquiries for home loans over the last 8 weeks has been uncharacteristically high, stating that homeowners are turning to this “specialist” form of finance, in a desperate bid to attain credit. The lender reveals that demand has increased by more than 30% over the last 2 months, however, faired against the same time last year, enquiries are up by a staggering 60%.
One industry spokesperson commented that the recent surge in demand could also be due to an additional push from independent brokers. It is suggested that a sizeable number of intermediaries are turning to the home loans sector, as a means to balance losses garnered from a slowing mortgage market.
Home loans are often viewed unfavourably by many borrowers for the simple reason that security (in the form of the persons home) is required by the lender, in order for the application to be granted. Analysts predict that the UK’s credit market, and trends of such, will undergo noticeable change as the credit crunch takes its toll.
