SPF News

The rise in home purchase lending in July leaned more towards home movers than in June, when the largest rise was seen amongst the first-time buyer market. There were 20,400 first-time buyer and 35,700 home mover mortgages in July, up 18% and 28% respectively on June.

The CML reports that over three quarters of mortgages taken out in July were at fixed rates, with borrowers taking an average rate of 4.7%, a significantly lower figure than the average of 5.57% over the past decade.

According to Paul Samter, CML economist , ‘It’s tempting to call the turn in the mortgage market at this point, and there is certainly concrete evidence that lending for house purchase is increasing. But there are still constraints affecting the lending industry's capacity to fund increased lending, as well as less consumer motivation to remortgage for the time being. The overall lending picture is likely to stay relatively subdued for some time, especially as the wider economy is far from robust as yet."

Source: CML