Last week the government handed powers to the Financial Policy Committee to enforce its will on the market.
Boulger said: “Politicians are passing the buck to the Bank of England.
“If the Chancellor makes an announcement people might not vote for them, but as The Bank of England is unelected if people can’t get a mortgage they won’t think it’s a reason not to vote for the party.
“There’s a political game being played.”
In the summer of 2014 the FPC advised that from October 1 lenders must limit lending above an LTI ratio of 4.5 to 15% of total residential lending.
A number of lenders have followed suit by tightening income multiple criteria, as Santander is preventing first-time buyers from borrowing more than 4.49 times their income from Friday.
But David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Business, said: “I don’t think politicians have an intellect to play such a deep and long game.
“It’s a political position – the government needed to be seen to doing something.
“But nine out of 10 customers held back would have been constrained by other factors anyway.”
