13
May
Lending for house purchase down in March
The number of loans taken out for house purchases was down by one
per cent in March from the previous month, to 46,500, according to
the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
That represents a 48 per cent reduction from 89,000 in March
2007.
Overall gross mortgage lending stood at £75 billion for the
first quarter of 2008, which again is down from £83.9 billion
in the same period last year.
Remortgaging activity remained strong, rising to £33.3 billion
in the first quarter, which is an increase of 35 per cent from the
fourth quarter of 2007.
CML director general Michael Coogan predicted that "house purchase
transaction volumes will continue to deteriorate in the coming
months".
"Libor still remains high relative to the Bank rate and any
improvement in credit market conditions will take time to feed
through into the mortgage market," he added.
Yesterday, John Charcol reported that increasing numbers of its
customers are turning to the security of fixed-rate mortgages as
the future of the housing market continues to look uncertain.
