Mortgage lending down again

The amount of mortgage lending taking place for house purchases fell again in March, it has been revealed.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed that the number of loans to buy properties fell from 47,200 in February to 46,500.

This figure also compares unfavourably with the March 2007 tally of 89,000.

CML director general Michael Coogan predicted that this decline will continue in the next few months.

He said that there were signs that the recently-announced Bank of England Special Liquidity Scheme was starting to have a "slight" effect on liquidity and interbank lending rates, but emphasised that this "will take time to feed through into the mortgage market".

Those unwilling to wait for more favourable mortgage market conditions to emerge could consider the alternative strategy of self build.

In its announcement of the scheme last month the Bank said the cost would be "initially" £50 billion, which may imply that it will feel the need to spend more money attempting to improve liquidity conditions.


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