Mortgage lending drops
Published On 23 April 2008
Mortgage lending weakened in March, new figures have revealed.Data released by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) showed that net mortgage lending rose by £5.1 billion during the month.
This compared to a rise of £5.5 billion in the previous month and an average of £5.2 billion over the last half year period.
What's more, gross mortgage lending amounted to £ 16.6 billion in March, down 14.7 per cent when compared to the same month in 2007. In addition, the data showed that the value of house purchase loans approved in March was 43.7 per cent lower than it was a year ago.
BBA statistics director David Dooks commented: "The consequences of low banking sector liquidity show up clearly in March data; reduced product ranges and tighter criteria resulted in slower mortgage lending and significantly fewer loan approvals.
"Pressures on personal finances are also constraining demand, not only for mortgages, but also for personal loans and borrowing on cards."
Elsewhere, the data indicated that credit card borrowing has risen 2.1 per cent compared to a year ago.
