The turmoil in the financial markets has led several small building societies to restrict or even halt fresh mortgage lending.
The Bath and the Earl Shilton have withdrawn all their deals, except those at their standard variable rates. Three others - the Newbury, Melton Mowbray and the Tipton & Coseley - are only lending to local people.
All have been swamped by demand but have found funds hard to come by on the financial markets.
The Bath building society admitted it had temporarily run out of money to lend. "Wholesale money is difficult to get and we have come to a standstill at the moment," said a spokesman. "We are hoping it will just be for a month, but we have taken on so much [new business] we have just run out of money to lend at the moment."
The Tipton & Coseley said the fact it was still offering 95% mortgages meant it had been attracting interest from customers unable to obtain mortgages elsewhere. "We were getting a lot of calls from around the country and we wanted to make sure that people locally can get them," said the society's Chris Martin. "Lenders are withdrawing rates and increasing them and limiting the percentage they will lend on.
"We are a bit loath to do that and it is to make sure we don't have to that we are restricting borrowing to people in our area," he added.
he drying up of funds in the financial markets has already led to the crash of one of the country's biggest mortgage lenders, Northern Rock.
But the effects of the crisis are turning out to be more widespread. All lenders are now much more cautious about who they will lend to - both to their public customers and also to professional ones in the financial markets. That has led directly to the disappearance of mortgages worth more than 100% of a property's value. And some lenders are now reluctant to lend more than 90%.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has already warned that the "mortgage tap" could be turned off this year. Lenders expected to fund a third of their lending by borrowing from other financial institutions on the financial markets, but this source of funds has now dried up.
The economics consultancy Capital Economics - which has long argued that the housing market in the UK was a bubble waiting to burst - warned that the drying up of funds might lead to a downward spiral of falling house prices this year.
The Bath and the Earl Shilton have withdrawn all their deals, except those at their standard variable rates. Three others - the Newbury, Melton Mowbray and the Tipton & Coseley - are only lending to local people.
All have been swamped by demand but have found funds hard to come by on the financial markets.
The Bath building society admitted it had temporarily run out of money to lend. "Wholesale money is difficult to get and we have come to a standstill at the moment," said a spokesman. "We are hoping it will just be for a month, but we have taken on so much [new business] we have just run out of money to lend at the moment."
The Tipton & Coseley said the fact it was still offering 95% mortgages meant it had been attracting interest from customers unable to obtain mortgages elsewhere. "We were getting a lot of calls from around the country and we wanted to make sure that people locally can get them," said the society's Chris Martin. "Lenders are withdrawing rates and increasing them and limiting the percentage they will lend on.
"We are a bit loath to do that and it is to make sure we don't have to that we are restricting borrowing to people in our area," he added.
he drying up of funds in the financial markets has already led to the crash of one of the country's biggest mortgage lenders, Northern Rock.
But the effects of the crisis are turning out to be more widespread. All lenders are now much more cautious about who they will lend to - both to their public customers and also to professional ones in the financial markets. That has led directly to the disappearance of mortgages worth more than 100% of a property's value. And some lenders are now reluctant to lend more than 90%.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has already warned that the "mortgage tap" could be turned off this year. Lenders expected to fund a third of their lending by borrowing from other financial institutions on the financial markets, but this source of funds has now dried up.
The economics consultancy Capital Economics - which has long argued that the housing market in the UK was a bubble waiting to burst - warned that the drying up of funds might lead to a downward spiral of falling house prices this year.
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