The British Bankers’ Association has released its mortgage lending figures for December and they show that home loan approvals hit a 19-month high.

Contractor mortgage hunters who are concerned that interest rates may rise dramatically in the next couple of years may want to consider taking out a ten-year fixed rate product.

Yorkshire Building Society had some welcome news for first time buyers earlier this week when it cut the interest rate on its range of low deposit contractor mortgages.

Recent research suggests that 20% of first time buyers were unable to find a suitable contractor mortgage in 2011.

There hasn’t been much good news to shout about in the housing market recently, but a glimmer of hope has crept in after the CML announced that mortgage lending increased in November.

People looking for a contractor mortgage may want to consider visiting HSBC after the bank announced it planned to make a minimum of £15 billion available to UK homeowners this year. £3 billion of this pot will be set aside specifically for first time buyers.

In the last 12 months, the number of available contractor mortgages has increased from 2,527 to 3,180. We’ve even seen some 95% LTV loans creeping into the market, but there are still not enough of them to satisfy first time buyer demand.

Although the Bank of England has held the base rate at a historic low of 0.5% for almost three years, contractor mortgage rates have been increasing recently as lenders fear a double dip recession.

According to a new study, first time buyers in Scotland pay a lower proportion of their earnings towards their contractor mortgage repayments.

Confidence in the British housing market is the lowest it has been for over a year as fewer contractor mortgage holders expect to see house prices increase in the next few months.

According to ARLA, an increasing number of householders are putting their homes up for rent because they are unable to sell them.

According to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, house sellers are becoming greedy and asking unrealistic prices.