Mortgage lenders' borrowing levels decrease

Friday, 18 Dec 2009, 1:07pm
Mortgage lenders' borrowing levels decrease

CML figures have placed mortgage lending for November at £12 billion, ten per cent down on October's statistics.

New figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that the amount of money offered to those looking to purchase a new home or remortgage a current property has dropped in November, compared to the previous month.

Some £12 billion of home mortgages were made available last month, although this is ten per cent down from the £13.3 billion of lending in October and 14 per cent lower than September's £13.9 billion.

The group claimed that a seasonal decline in October and November is to be expected, however the ten per cent drop is slightly greater than normal levels.

Despite this, the CML believes that the home mortgage market is stabilising and there will not be much more change in the coming months.

Paul Samter, economist at the body, said: "There could be a modest decline in underlying house buying activity in early 2010 due to the stamp duty holiday ending, with activity 'bunching' over the last few months of 2009."

"There has been a modest increase in the availability of mortgage credit recently, including some tentative signs of a few higher loan-to-value products emerging," he added.

Remortgaging still remains at a subdued level, however.

Major mortgage lenders such as Abbey, Alliance& Leicester, first direct and Yorkshire Building Society have reduced the interest on their fixed-rate deals recently, a move which has been welcomed by industry players.

Independent mortgage lender John Charcol said that those who have been holding out for a quality fixed-rate loan since interest peaked in August are now getting an early Christmas present from the banks.

Written by Rosie May
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