The Council of Mortgage Lender's figures show that we will still be feeling shockwaves from the impact of the credit crunch for a long time. "Crumbs of comfort" is all the CML could give borrowers in its outlook for the mortgage market.

But the comfort was not all that comforting. The reasons to be cheerful the CML gave us were more: "It could be worse" than "its going to get better". For instance: "The CML's outlook for mortgage arrears and repossessions remains unchanged", or in other words: "Take comfort: we do not expect more people to struggle with repayments or lose their homes than the 50,000 we had already forecast."

As long as lenders continue to reserve their best rates for borrowers who have deposits worth 25 per cent, we will be waiting as long as it takes the less fortunate to save-up before we see anything other than year-on-year declines in mortgage lending.

The credit crunch has changed the way lenders sell mortgages forever. HBOS may have successfully flogged £500 million in mortgage bonds that could help ease the liquidity drought, but banks will not make the same lending mistakes again.

This time, more money flowing through the system is unlikely to translate into 100 per cent mortgages and cavalier lending to borrowers with poor credit histories. It was these bold and with hindsight, foolish strategies that had kept house prices rising in the run-up to last summer, long after they should have plateaued of their own accord.

Instead of passing the cash on to borrowers, banks are more likely to use it to shore-up their damaged balance sheets, and all homeowners can hope for is that they will continue to be thrown the odd crumb.