Gross lending down 42% in September: CML

Gross mortgage lending fell 42 per cent year on year during September to an estimated £17.7 billion, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revealed.

New figures from the CML estimate total lending for the third quarter at £62 billion, which represents a 37 per cent drop from the corresponding period of last year.

Michael Coogan, CML director general, said: "The mortgage market is open for business. But weakening consumer demand and ongoing funding constraints will dampen monthly lending figures for the rest of this year and into the first quarter of 2009."

The CML is estimating that gross lending for the whole year will be around £255 billion, down from £363 billion in 2007, with net lending estimated to reach approximately £40 billion.

Net lending for the whole of 2007 was £108 billion.

According to the Daily Mail, falling house prices have put people off moving home and this could result in many existing property owners embarking on a full-scale renovation of their dwellings to make them greener and help save money on utility bills.