Higher loan to value ratios wanted on mortgages

Borrowers who make repayments on time should be rewarded with lower deposits on their mortgages, one website believes.

FirstRungNow.com said that although recent Council of Mortgage Lenders figures for gross lending are up, first-time buyers need help getting a home loan to fund a new property .

This demographic is currently having a difficult time finding a suitable mortgage deal, especially if they do not have parental backing, and raising loan-to-value ratios would help both them and "good" borrowers, the site claimed.

Helen Adams, managing director of FirstRungNow.com, explained: "[Loan-to-value ratios] could go a little higher for good borrowers. It is just so difficult for them to get hold of a deposit . Lenders are still scared, they are hardly lending to first-time buyers at all, and if so; require a big deposit ."

Woolwich Building Society recently announced that it would begin lending mortgages with loan-to-values of up to 75 per cent for the first time since autumn 2008.

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