Mortgage lending continues to fall
Published On 13 May 2008
New figures show that mortgage lending for house purchases remained subdued in March.The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reported that the number of loans for home purchases approved in March dropped one per cent on the previous month to 46,500.
When compared to March 2007, mortgage lending fell 48 per cent.
Overall, gross mortgage lending totalled £75 billion in the first quarter of 2008, down from £83.9 billion in the first three months of the previous year.
Despite the falls, the report indicated that remortgaging levels remained relatively stable and that this sort of lending now accounts for 44 per cent of gross lending.
"House purchase transaction volumes will continue to deteriorate in the coming months as recent approvals data from the Bank of England has shown," CML director general Michael Coogan explained.
Sean Gardner of MoneyExpert.com commented on the figures. He said: "The CML figures today show lending for house buying at their lowest since 1975 and there's very little hope that things will get better during the rest of the year.
"First-time buyers and people renegotiating their mortgage for the first time will be worst affected."
