First-time buyers have been hit hard by the mortgage crisis gripping Britain as lenders withdraw product packages for low-deposit borrowers.
There were 199 properties available at the weekend for home seekers looking to borrow up to 95 per cent of the property’s value, according to the Moneyfacts website.
That’s down more than 40 percent over the past year from 347 at the start of June.
The average two-year fixed mortgage rate of 95% loan-to-value jumped more than three percentage points to 6.49% over the same period
It comes as the average two-year fixed mortgage rate topped 6 percent on Monday for the first time since December.
The crisis was triggered by persistent inflation, which caused the government’s borrowing costs to soar, affecting the interest rates lenders were willing to offer.
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What happened in one night
Asian shares were mostly lower as some investors took a wait-and-see position after US markets were closed for a national holiday.
Some investors were also disappointed after a meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken showed no sign of progress on Taiwan, human rights, technology and other contentious issues.
Investors were also worried that China’s latest interest rate cut was not enough to boost confidence in the faltering economy and expected a broader stimulus package from Beijing.
China, in a long-awaited move, cut two key benchmark lending rates for the first time in 10 months, with the main one-year lending rate (LPR) cut by 10 basis points to 3.55% and the five-year LPR cut by the same margin up to 4.20 pcs.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei pared earlier losses and ended slightly higher despite falls in European shares after Beijing’s central bank cut its two key interest rates.
The Nikkei 225 rose 0.1 percent to 33,388.91, while the broader Topix index fell 0.3 percent to 2,283.85.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9% to 7,362.90. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.3 percent to 2,601.07.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 1.4 percent at 19,627.86, while the Shanghai Composite was down 0.2 percent at 3,248.53.