Lenders 'may be less inclined to give to graduates'

Scottish first-time buyers that have recently left university may find it difficult to get onto the housing ladder, it has been claimed.

UNAID, a charity that aims to assist students with financial concerns, has suggested that mortgage lenders may be less inclined to offer home loans to university leavers.

Alistair Lomax, executive director of the charity, explained that this may be a result of the fact that students tend to leave university with debt, coupled with increasingly stringent lending due to the credit crunch.

"If lenders are [now] more risk-averse … and the cost of property is so huge, then it’s going to be very difficult," he said.

In this light, graduate Scottish first-time buyers may be unable to make it onto the bottom rung of the property ladder, he added.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders recently announced that total mortgage lending fell by 3.5 per cent in February, compared to the previous month, amounting to some £25 billion.