The proportion of mortgages sold via brokers has fallen since the credit crunch began as lenders make many of top deals available to those who apply direct to a bank or building society.
Property asking prices fell for the third month in a row during September as estate agents continued to have record levels of unsold stock on their books.
Britain saw the largest rise in employment since records began in the three months to July as official figures today revealed 286,000 more people secured jobs.
Consumers were warned today that borrowing rates could rise further after tough new regulations were drawn up to boost the amount of spare cash held by banks.