Over the past six months the mortgage markets have been thrown into turmoil in the UK, with lenders scaling back on their lending, and consumers facing ever increasing costs and difficulties when it comes to getting a mortgage or a remortgage. Many lenders have had to rein in their lending over the past six months, with many unable to secure the finance that they need to fund their mortgage lending operations due to difficulties and expense when it comes to inter-bank lending.

Since the global credit crunch confidence levels amongst lenders have plummeted, and this has resulted in most being unwilling to lend to one another. This lack of funding has resulted in many lenders having to cut back on the amount of new business that they take on and the amount that they lend to borrowers, which has had a knock on effect on consumer confidence levels and availability to mortgage products, particularly for groups such as first time buyers and those with damaged credit.

However, this is a problem that does not seem to have affected high street bank Abbey to the same level that it has affected other lenders. Abbey is a Spanish owned bank, and this has given it certain benefits that are not available to other mortgage lenders in the UK. The Spanish origins of the Abbey mean that it has access to funds from the European Central Bank. This is led many officials to argue that the Bank of England has not been offering the same level of support to UK lenders.

In the meantime Abbey has enjoy taking a 17 % slice of the mortgage market over the first quarter of the year, as it has been able to help consumers that have been turned away by other banks who do not have the necessary funding to take on more mortgage business.

Recent news:

• First annual fall since 90s for house prices
• Bank of England cuts base rate
• Mortgage approval levels remain on a low
• Interest rate cut becomes more likely due to tighter lending conditions
• Huge drop in range of mortgage deals available

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