| ::Rate it: | ||
|
Rating:
|
 |
4 |
 |
| ::Mortgage lending 'falls by 10%' - 18th December 2009 |
| Mortgage lending in the UK in November was down 10% from the previous month and was at its lowest level since May, according to lenders. Gross mortgage lending totalled £12bn during the month, down 14% on November 2008, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said. Lending on home loans had been rising steadily during the autumn. The group said the latest month-on-month fall could not be solely explained by seasonal factors. It said that a modest seasonal decline between October and November was typical, but a 10% drop was larger than normal. No 'swift recovery' However, CML economist Paul Samter said that the longer term picture remained one of stability, despite the imminent end of the stamp duty holiday. In the pre-Budget report, Chancellor Alistair Darling confirmed that the 1% stamp duty would be levied on properties sold for more than £125,000 from the end of the year, compared with £175,000 now. "There is little reason to expect much underlying change in the coming months," Mr Samter said. "There could be a modest decline in underlying house buying activity in early 2010 due to the stamp duty holiday ending, with activity bunching over the last few months of 2009." The traditional highs and lows in the market depending on the time of year would be the dominant factor during 2010, he said. However, he signalled little fresh cheer for first-time buyers, who still generally face having to find a large deposit before getting on the property ladder. "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," he said. "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." On Thursday, the National Association of Estate Agents said that the proportion of first-time buyers entering the market was at its lowest for a year in November. Future changes Mr Samter described the pre-Budget report as a "holding operation" despite the introduction of a "headline-grabbing bankers' bonus tax". He said that there was little in the report to influence the housing market, which would continue to be subdued in 2010. "There are a number of factors that lead us to anticipate only a modest pick-up in the housing and mortgage markets from 2009 to 2010," he said. These included a continued squeeze on lending and the fact that few people would commit to major purchases at a time of a looming General Election. The Bank of England's Trends in Lending report, also published on Friday, revealed that major UK lenders expected a "muted recovery" in mortgage lending in 2010. Consumers are likely to continue to show little appetite for other forms of borrowing - such as loans and credit cards - in 2010, the report said. This reduction in unsecured consumer credit would be driven by an expected fall in the number of applications for personal loans, the High Street banks told the Bank of England. |
| Source of this article : |
| From: bbc.co.uk/news - 18th December 2009 |
| Date of this item added : |
| 2009-12-23 |