Lenders less willing to lend to low equity borrowers: BoE

The Bank of England's quarterly Credit Conditions Survey of bank and building society lenders found that aside from this type of borrower, the availability for borrowers across both low and high loan to value was reported to be unchanged.

The availability of secured credit to households was reported to be broadly unchanged in the three months to mid-March. However it was expected to increase over the next three months, to mid-June 2017, with lenders’ market share objectives reported to be the main anticipated driver of this.

Lenders reported that demand for secured lending for house purchase decreased in Q1. Within this, demand for prime lending decreased slightly and demand for buy-to-let lending decreased significantly. Lenders expected total demand for secured lending for house purchase to increase in Q2, driven by an increase in prime lending. Demand for remortgaging was reported to be unchanged in Q1, but was expected to increase in Q2.

Overall spreads on secured lending to households — relative to Bank Rate or the appropriate swap rate — were reported to have narrowed significantly in Q1, consistent with what lenders had previously expected. This was the case for spreads on both buy-to-let lending and prime lending. Lenders expected spreads on prime lending to remain unchanged in Q2, but expected a further narrowing of spreads on buy-to-let lending.