Bank of England credit conditions survey

The Council of Mortgage Lenders is encouraged by the results of the Bank of England's credit conditions survey.

Among other things, some noticeably positive findings include -

- Defaults on secured loans over the past three months were lower than lenders had anticipated they would be; Lenders broadly expect the availability of secured credit to remain about the same, and the demand for it to increase, over the next three months.

- Lenders are broadly anticipating the demand for house purchase lending to strengthen in the prime sector, but a small proportion of lenders anticipate demand reducing in the buy-to-let sector, and a more substantial proportion expect demand for "other" house purchase lending to reduce.

Michael Coogan, CML director general, commented: "Although this survey was undertaken before the Northern Rock situation emerged, the funding constraints arising from the slowdown in the interbank lending market were already apparent. Against this backdrop, it is encouraging to see that the lenders contributing to the Bank survey largely expect the supply of mortgage lending to hold up."