Approvals for a home loans have fallen for two consecutive months, as October saw a 1.1% decline compared to the previous month. This decline is being blamed on mortgage lenders who are focusing their attention on borrowers who have larger deposits, and 90% loans account for just 1% of all lending. The cheaper end of the property market is seeing the fastest drop in approvals as buyers struggle to meet the strict lending criteria. Even though it appears as if higher loan to value mortgages are available, the truth is that most first-time buyers simply aren't eligible.

In the past this might have resulted in the lower end of the market collapsing, but it's being propped up by buy to let investors who are taking advantage of fixed rate mortgages and higher rental yields. In fact the last quarter saw an increase of 16% in the number of new buy to let loans, with data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders showing a total of 34,500 buy to let loans being approved between July and September, compared to 29,700 in the previous quarter. Latest figures also show that the number of buy to let mortgages which are more than three months in arrears has also declined, but there was a very slight increase in the number of rental properties which were repossessed. The increase in buy to let lending is good news for letting agents in Nottingham who will now be able to offer tenants a greater choice of quality property.