Stepping on to the housing ladder became still harder in the last quarter of 2007 as lenders tightened criteria for riskier borrowers, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors reports on Wednesday.

A couple on lowest-quartile earnings now have to save 104 per cent of joint take-home pay to cover fees, taxes and the deposit when buying their first home, Rics calculated – up from 100 per cent in the third quarter and from 23 per cent in the easier market of 1996.