Strict mortgage lending requirements have meant the first time buyers have to wait longer before they get a foot on the housing ladder.

Contractor mortgage lending in Scotland was at a two year low in the first quarter of this year, whilst concerns over an interest rate rise caused remortgaging activity to increase.

Paragon, the buy to let mortgage lender, has witnessed a 35% rise in pre-tax profits in the half year to March as potential first time buyers are forced to rent rather than buy.

New research from moneysupermarket.com reveals depressing news for first time buyers.

Phil Cliff, the director of Santander Mortgages, said last week that the Spanish owned bank has cut the rates on some of its existing home loans to help buyers who are struggling to make ends meet.

The public holidays in April limited the supply of homes for sale and sellers reacted by increasing asking prices to their highest level since June 2008.

Every month we get a vast amount of data on the state of the housing market, but these figures tend to reflect the UK average. As we all know, regional disparities mean the reality can be very different from the picture painted.

First time buyers may be starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel after it was reported that lenders were loosening their deposit requirements.

Recent research shows that mortgage interest rates remained virtually the same last month although the rate on tracker deals did fall slightly.

In days gone by, people had to make the decision whether to take out a repayment or an interest only contractor mortgage.

Low house prices are encouraging people to invest in buy to let properties rather than putting their money into low interest savings accounts.

Last week, two of the UK’s home builders reported that the domestic housing market is continuing to improve but warned that consumers are still hampered by the lack of mortgage availability.