Gross mortgage lending stable in August

Gross mortgage lending held steady in August and was an estimated £16.6 billion, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This is almost identical to July's gross lending total of £16.7 billion and is 28% higher than August last year (£13 billion).

In today's CML market commentary, CML chief economist Bob Pannell comments: "We are beginning to experience a healthy and broad-based recovery in mortgage lending activity. We attribute much of this turnaround to the improvement in funding markets generally, and also to the Funding for Lending Scheme. The Bank of England's approvals data suggests that the positive tone for house purchase and remortgage lending will continue.
 
"One tell-tale sign of a recovering housing market is the re-emergence of concerns about a housing boom... But, as we have argued elsewhere, the housing market recovery to date appears fairly unexceptional in nature, at least compared with that of the early-mid 1990s".

For more information, visit cml.org.uk.