Mortgage lender cuts maximum loan

The company said it was a "terrible situation" for first-time buyers

First time buyers in Jersey will now find it harder to get a mortgage, after one of the island's biggest lenders cut the level of loan it is offering.

The Jersey Home Loans company has reduced its maximum mortgage from 90% to 75%, for the first time.

The building society's chairman has blamed the move on growing difficulties in the finance lending markets.

"It's a terrible situation for us and effectively takes first-time buyers off the market," Mike Lazenby said.

The company, which has its head office in the UK, has not been able to offer investment savings, because of the island's financial laws.

A spokesman for Jersey Financial Services Commission told BBC News this was because the building society was not a member of the global top 500 banking institutions.

Despite Jersey having a more stable market than the UK, if the company could not raise money in the island it could not lend it, Mr Lazenby added.

Peter Seymour from the independent Mortgage Shop Plus said islanders would have to adjust to the new emerging "culture of thrift".