Mortgage lending hits record level, says CML
August 20, 2007 by admin
Filed under News, News-Mortgages
Mortgage lending has hit a new high, according to latest statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Gross lending hit an all-time July record of £34.4 billion, according to figures released by the industry body today.
Although the amount is slightly down on June’s results, this nevertheless represents a 13 per cent rise on the equivalent figures for 2006.
A CML spokesperson said that the record figures did not mean that the trend was set to increase: “As we move into the autumn the cumulative effects of [interest] rate rises will become more pronounced, and we expect this to feed through to lower levels of mortgage lending as the year progresses.”
Interest rates were raised by the Bank of England in July to 5.75 per cent, the fifth such increase in a year.
Commenting on the CML’s figures, chief economist at the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), Simon Rubinsohn, also counselled caution, saying that “the turmoil in financial markets will push up mortgage costs for in vogue longer term fixed rate deals and will further slow the residential property market.
“With 90 per cent of borrowers opting for fixed rate security, those who are already financially stretched will find themselves paying a higher price for the added peace of mind,” he added.
