10
Dec
Mortgage lending hits a 22-month high
The number of mortgages granted to house buyers hit a 22-month
high in October, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders
(CML).
It said 55,300 mortgages were granted to buyers, the highest
number since December 2007.
This was a 9% increase from September, and up 43% from October
last year.
The CML said mortgage lending to buyers had now doubled since
its low point in January this year, but remortgaging was still very
subdued.
"It appears that low interest rates for those with substantial
deposits, coupled with this year's sustained increases in house
prices, are encouraging more people to buy or move home," said the
CML's director general Michael Coogan.
"But the same low interest rates that are driving house purchase
activity provide little incentive for borrowers to refinance their
loans."
First-time buyers are still having to put down average deposits
of 25%, the CML's figures show, despite a gentle easing of the
industry's mortgage rationing in the past few months.
source: www.bbc.co.uk/news Thursday 10th
December 2009