Debt drives non-conforming mortgage market

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that the non-conforming market is growing at six times the speed of the regular market.

As large debt levels force people to look for alternatives to traditional mortgage options, the non-conforming market has risen from £1 billion a decade ago to be worth £25 billion now.

With lenders more prepared to lend to people with bad credit in that time, fixed, discount, and tracker varieties of non-conforming mortgages are all now available.

In addition, higher loan-to-value mortgages have been given, meaning that people are taking on bigger debts and loans than before, while at the same time bankruptcies have risen.

Although increased competition has meant that many of these non-conforming mortgages have become more competitive, it has come at the cost of people with debt having to turn to non-conventional options.