Market Comment

Gross mortgage lending in the second quarter was an estimated £35 billion, up by 17% from the first quarter of the year (£30 billion), and up 7% from the second quarter of 2009 (£32.7 billion). Lending was unchanged from the first half of 2009. "Our gross lending estimate of £13.1 billion in June represents a seasonal pick-up and is higher than June last year, but is still indicative of low levels of activity," commented Paul Samter, economist at the CML.