CML said mortgage lending fell again in August
According to officials from the Council of Mortgage Lenders mortgage lending levels fell in August, with the value of mortgage lending having fallen by 12 percent compared to July and by 36 percent compared to August of the previous year. The total amount of new mortgage lending for the month came to just £21.8 billion. This was the lowest level of mortgage lending since 2005 and the lowest level of mortgage lending in August since 2002.
Officials from the CML said that the low level of mortgage lending was down to “exceptionally low housing market turnover.” They have also predicted that mortgage lending is likely to continue falling over the coming months.
One official from the CML said: “These figures reflect the heightened uncertainty for both lenders and consumers in the mortgage market at present.” He added: “Lenders are uncertain about future sources of funding and the cost of funding, while consumers are unsure about how much further and for how long house prices will continue to decline.”
One industry official said that whilst the figures from the CML were disappointing they did not come as any great surprise.
He said: “They are a reflection of the near standstill the property market now finds itself in. In some areas, you could count the number of property transactions in August on one hand. And although August is always a fairly quiet month, it could be a few months before things start to pick up given the events of the past few days.”
The level of mortgages that have been approved but not yet lent has fallen by over 70 percent over the past year, and sales have fallen by over 50 percent over the same period, according to the figures released.
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