Mortgage lending hits lowest level in thirty four years
March 18, 2009 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
According to a recent report mortgage lending levels last year hit their lowest point in thirty four years, with figures at their lowest since 1974.
The data comes from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, which said that last year the number of mortgage that were doled out to property purchasers fell to a thirty four year low as lenders continued to curb their lending, and the global credit crunch continued to wreak havoc in the mortgage and housing sectors.
Worse still, officials from the Council of Mortgage Lenders predicted that this year could see mortgage lending levels fall even lower, as the recession bites and lenders become increasingly stringent and cautious with regards to lending.
One official, Michael Coogan, from the Council of Mortgage Lenders stated: “The shortage of mortgage funding and reduction in the number of active lenders has reshaped the mortgage landscape in the space of a year.” He added: “This low level of transactions is insufficient for the functioning of an efficient market.”
He also went on to state: “Measures are now in place to seek to restore the flow of funding to the mortgage market, but this will take time to feed through. Further action may still be necessary to increase transactions, stabilise prices and restore confidence.” One mortgage broker also said: “The CML data crystallises what we already knew, namely that from a mortgage perspective, 2008 was a massacre – the entire market is barely recognisable from what it was two years ago.”
The National Association of Estate Agents said: “NAEA figures show that there is a huge demand for property from first-time buyers, who are increasingly visiting estate agents, registering their interest and searching for property. These figures demonstrate that they are being frustrated at the final hurdle because lenders are not making mortgages available.”
Tags: council of mortgage lenders, Mortgages, wreak havoc, mortgage lending, Mortgage broker, massacre, National Association of Estate Agents, Credit (finance)
