MD’s plea for more lending
BANKS and building societies need to lend more to good customers, according to David Firth, the managing director of Britannia Developments.
He said: “The first-time buyer market will not recover until lenders start to provide carefully managed 95 per cent mortgage products, thereby making the required deposit more affordable.
“At the moment the affordability ratio is around six times earnings... more realistic perceptions and expectations will appear across the market. Increasing numbers of purchasers are seeking to invest in a property simply as a place to live without also viewing it as a means of making money.”