Effects of credit crunch "modest"

First-time buyers (FTBs) are not being affected by the global credit crunch any more significantly than other borrowers.

That is according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which says that the impact of the squeeze has been "modest".

"We haven't been monitoring how lenders have been adjusting their pricing, but for prime mortgages any price adjustments so far have been very modest and at this stage there doesn't appear to be any indication of there being any higher costs for first-time buyers in particular," said Bernard Clarke from the CML.

"But the changes that have been made essentially have been to tracker products, so these have been very modest, certainly by the major lenders who adjust those by rates of between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent.

"I don't think it's been made significantly more difficult for first-time buyers," he added.

Alliance & Leicester is the latest firm to reveal that it will be increasing rates on some of its mortgages.

Abbey, Halifax and Standard Life have already made similar announcements.

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