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CML: Mortgage lending strengthens

By Jonathan Dawes, Tue 21 Feb 2012 - Published in Mortgages

Gross mortgage lending continues to recover as borrowing was ten per cent stronger for January than it was in 2011.

Statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) found that there was a decline to £10.5 billion with borrowing falling by 14.4 per cent from £12.2 billion in December.

Whilst the figures were lower than the pre-Christmas level they were up on 2011's £9.5 billion. This was combined with a report from the Mortgage Advice Bureau which showed that applications were up by 25.8 per cent from last year.

It signals a positive move in the struggling property market as more first-time buyers are getting their foot on the housing ladder.

Bob Pannell, CML chief economist, said: "The increase in lending compared to January last year helps support our view that housing and mortgage market activity may be boosted by first-time buyers seeking to complete deals before the stamp duty concession ends in March."