Mortgage lending in October increased compared to previous month
Figures that were recently released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders have shown that there was a month on month increase in mortgage lending for the month of October, with mortgage lending for the month rising by around 5 percent compared to September.
However, despite the encouraging figures the Council of Mortgage Lenders warned that mortgage lending levels for the month were still down by 27 percent compared to the same period last year.
Officials from the CML said that the increase seen for the month of October in terms of mortgage lending levels was typical for the time of year and was down to seasonal activity in the market.
However, it did add that there had been changes in the type of mortgage lending that was now prevalent, with remortgaging hitting the lowest levels in a decade. The CML said that both house prices and lending levels had increased over the summer, and since then had remained relatively stable.
The data was also mirrored by another report that was released by the Bank of England, which was the Trends in Lending Report. This also showed that there was a higher level of mortgage lending activity in October compared to September. Paul Samter, an economist with the CML, said that the figures indicated that the state of the economy in the UK was improving, and that it was likely that the UK was coming out of recession.
However, he also added that improvement in the property market over the coming year was likely to be modest, stating: “We remain sceptical how much further housing and mortgage market activity can improve from current levels. As a result, we also expect only a modest improvement over the course of next year.”
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