Mortgage Lending Hits Record Levels
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), mortgage lending in January this year was the highest on record. The figures show a 16% increase over January 2006 with gross mortgage lending at £26.8bn. However, this was a drop of 6% on lending for December. The CML has said the latest figures show that mortgage lending is still strong, and this is likely to continue over the next few months.
The Building Societies Association (BSA) have released figures which tell a similar story. Their mortgage approvals and lending also reached the highest ever level for January. A slowdown in the housing market has been predicted for some time but according to the BSA there is no sign of this yet. However, mortgage borrowing is still expected to slow down once the effect of the recent interest rate rises is felt.
Further figures for January indicate consumer trends for borrowing other than mortgages. According to the British Bankers' Association (BBA), £500m was paid off credit cards. This was a record high. However, in the same period there was an increase of £500m in borrowing using loans and credit cards, so consumers do not appear to be taking action to reduce personal debt as a whole.
<< More News | RSS Feed | Apply for a Loan >>
