New mortgage lending across the UK appears to be on the increase, judging by newly-released figures.
According to the British Bankers Association’s (BBA’s) August 2011 statistics for the main high street banks, net mortgage lending stood at 1.6 per cent during the month – meaning the level stayed ahead of the 0.8 per cent recorded for the whole market in July.
David Dooks, statistics director at the BBA – which represents more than 200 member institutes from 60 countries – said the weak economic environment is continuing to impact on confidence with regards to both the household and business sectors.
The industry figure noted: “The banks’ new mortgage lending has ticked up in the past couple of months with higher buy-to-let demand and some business sectors are edging towards year-on-year borrowing growth.”
Net lending figures continue to be dominated by the paying down of existing debt, Mr Dooks went on to point out.
