Two high-profile London-based mortgage brokers, Chase De Vere Mortgage Management and Cobalt Capital, have closed for business as a result of the sharp decline in the availability of home loans.

The brokers blamed “appalling” conditions in the mortgage market for the decision to call in administrators. Around 100 staff members have lost their jobs across the two firms. The two firms are the latest brokers to fall victim to the mortgage drought. New mortgage lending shrank by -52.1% in January compared to the same month last year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Lenders granted £12.4bn in the first month of this year, down -8.4% from £13.5bn in December.

The Association of Mortgage Intermediaries (AMI), which estimates that there are 20,000 brokers across the UK, said that difficult conditions in the mortgage market had forced around 750 intermediaries to shut down in the last three months of 2008.