Figures that have been recently released have shown that for the month of November there was a drop of 10 percent in mortgage lending in the UK compared to the previous month. The figures suggest that mortgage lending in November hit the lowest level since May of this year. The Council of Mortgage Lenders has stated that the mortgage lending levels of November of this year were also down by around 14 percent compared to the same month last year.

Gross mortgage lending came to £12 billion for the month, and the fall came after a steady increase in mortgage lending over previous months. Whilst seasonal factors have been taken into consideration by the CML officials from the group have said that the latest fall could not be attributed to seasonal factors alone.

The group said that whilst it was normal for a slight decline in mortgage lending to be seen between October and November the 10 percent decline was unusually large.

An economist from the CML, Paul Samter, also commented on the up and coming end of the stamp duty holiday, which is set to finish at the end of this year. He said that despite the imminent end of the stamp duty suspension the long term outlook for the sector appeared to be one of stability.

He said that he doubted that there would be much underlying change over the next few months as a result of the stamp duty holiday coming to an end.

He also said that things continued to look bleak for first time buyers, who continued to struggle to get mortgage finance, stating: “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. But there is no sign of a swift recovery in lending volumes, especially with remortgaging set to remain at subdued levels while low interest rates persist.”

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