10
Jun
Million pound mortgage availability 'declining'
The number of million pound-plus mortgages available on the market
is dwindling, according to Bestinvest.
Peter O'Donovan, head of mortgages at the firm, said that such
products are still available, but consumers are likely to find
their choices reduced.
He noted that some big mortgage providers such as Abbey, Cheltenham
and Gloucester, Woolwich and Halifax are still willing to lend that
sort of money.
Mr O'Donovan suggested that this was partly because "lenders feel
they have a smaller amount of money available to lend to at the
present time. Therefore, they'd rather spread the risk over, say,
20 mortgages of 100,000 than two mortgages of a million
pounds."
The decline in the number of high-end mortgage available comes as
sales of million pound properties in the UK are rising
sharply.
According to Halifax sales of such homes rose by 36 per cent last
year, compared with a nine per cent fall in total property
sales.
