Mortgage lending on the up in February
Tuesday 14th April 2009, 11:14AM BST.
Mortgage lending rose by four per cent in February according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
At the same time, according to the CML, remortgaging fell 20 per cent for the month.
“We expect demand for remortgaging to remain muted as lenders’ standard variable rates are attractive compared to new mortgage pricing, and house price falls continue to erode equity levels,” the CML said.
Although first-time buyer loans were significantly lower than previous averages for the month, a seven per cent increase from January was recorded. A typical deposit of 25 per cent also set a new record.
The CML explained that increasingly tight lending criteria for first-time buyers meant such high deposits were out of reach “for all but the most affluent buyers”.
“Recent mortgage approvals figures published by the Bank of England show some signs of improvement at the beginning of the borrowing process, although activity is at a very low level historically,” commented Michael Coogan, the CML’s director general.
“We are not convinced that underlying trends have shifted sufficiently to change our forecasts for mortgage market activity in 2009, but there are some positive signs for later in the year.”
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