Mortgage lending soared in September: CML |
|
|
Published
:
Fri, 20 Oct 2006 13:15
|
LONDON - The UK house market continued to grow from strength to strength after it was reported that mortgage lending has soared to its record levels in September.
According to the figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), underlying net mortgage lending jumped up to £29.5 billion, rising by over 7 percent from same period last year. This is a new record for the month of September, adding weightage to an already booming housing market in Britain.
However these figures show an 11 percent decline from the month of August, which showed an all-time record of £33 billion. The Building Societies Association confirmed the growth saying that gross advances in September went up from £4,147 million last year to £5,047 million this year.
Michael Coogan, the director of CML, believes that the market will continue to improve in the coming months. “House price growth and mortgage approvals continue to remain strong, so we should expect to see continued levels of robust lending over the coming months,” he said, though cautioning that any increase in the interest rates will slow down the market.
Meanwhile many analysts say that the latest figure prove the process of the market cooling down has started. Says Howard Archer, economist at Global Insight, "While not too much should be read into one month's data, the slowdown in mortgage lending in September could be an early sign that higher interest rates and robust house price increases are adding to affordability problems and beginning to squeeze buyers out of the market."
|
|
|
|
Print this Story
Renewed property market confidence? mortgage lending rises 