The death knell for sub-prime?

Speaking at the Mortgage Business Expo in Manchester, Jackie Bennett, head of policy at the CML, said: “It may be another 18 months before the funding position recovers completely and perhaps never for the securitisation market.”

Bennett added that this was not necessarily a death knell for the sub-prime market although it was still very uncertain as to how things would pan out in this sector over the coming months. “There will still be people with credit problems and there will be a market for those at the margins,” she said.

Even when funding issues had been largely resolved, Bennett said the range of heavy adverse products in the market may remain restricted, while borrowers would probably have to get used to paying a deposit of 5 or 10%.