Correctly understanding everything that went into creating the global recession will make your head spin unless you're some type of investment banker, most likely, and pointing the finger at this juncture is as counterproductive as anything else you could possibly do.
The fact of the matter is that, when "easy" credit was issued, a subprime crisis reared its head and had a drastic effect on the mortgage lending industry that even spread and made its way to hedge funds.
Banks and other large mortgage companies, whether they were wholly responsible for the mess or not, were "bailed out," to put it simply, and given taxpayer-government-money, along with a complicated list of demands and desires, to hopefully quell the problems within the industry and to bolster other parts of the economy.
In a perfect world, lenders would take this saving grace, get back to business as usual, and the mortgage/property problems could witness some much needed equilibrium and, hopefully, climb out of the gutter.
This isn't what we're seeing in the UK, however.
With many similar factors the country witnessed before the first series of problems some few years ago, mortgages are now drying up, banks do not want to lend, property sales are down by a third, and other factors like rising taxes, unemployment rates and overall uneasiness are wreaking havoc on the UK's economy and especially its property market.
With new regulations in place and, more importantly, the money in place to actually give out home loans, why are mortgage brokers and other lenders so cautious about doing what they're in business to do? Part of the reason, inevitably, is that fewer people want to buy homes in the UK and it's steadily trending down.
Because of the higher costs of living all around, many people are moving abroad to purchase homes.
What this means is that every loan given by a mortgage broker assumes a higher risk.
For example: if your company gave out 1,000 home loans out of 5,000 applicants, you would expect that some would default and some homes would have to be repossessed.
It is the cost of doing business.
However, when you're urged to grant loans to a higher percentage of people who may not stay on for the full length of their contract, the risk grows exponentially.
Both lenders and homebuyers are feeling a little uneasy about the entire situation.
Another reason-or reasons-for the lack of lending is that, after the initial crash, many companies now recognize the signs and do not want to simply lend to the same type of person they lent to before.
Due to lax lending, a bubble of debt-which was also a bubble of ownership-was created.
Everyone was making out in the deal, until, that is, it came crashing down.
Now, lenders are wearier than ever that simply giving out loans will create the cycle again and also that this time the government will not be there to keep them afloat.
Will lending loosen up? Inevitably, things will balance out.
However, it's going to take increased confidence in the overall economy rather than simply the property market in general.
Employment and living costs have to balance out for the home market to completely bounce back.