High LTV mortgages are no more

The high loan to value mortgage is dying. According to the FSA, in the autumn of 2007 close to 9 percent of gross lending was going on mortgages with a loan to value ratio in excess of 90 percent. By the winter of 2008, that ratio had shrunk to just under 4 percent.

Loan to value ratios are not the only shrinking mortgage number. The FSA is considering a limit on loan to income ratios. In future, banks will be discouraged from giving loans in excess of three times income.

The real estate industry aren't happy: "Any move to further restrict mortgage lending would add insult to injury," said Trevor Kent, a former president of the National Association of Estate Agents. "It would be suicidal and cause property prices to come down yet further. Lenders are already reluctant to lend, and this would give them an excuse to put up another hurdle, stopping buyers getting access to finance."

Personally speaking, I am "insulted" by the "injury: caused to the UK economy by successive housing bubbles. Restrictions on excessive mortgage lending is long overdue.