Mortgage lending to first-time buyers (FTBs) rose in February, new figures have shown.
Released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the statistics revealed 14,100 home loans were taken out by this group during the four-week period.
This amounted to a total worth of £1.7 billon and was eight per cent greater by number and six per cent higher by value compared to that recorded in January.
From an annual perspective, the February 2012 results increased 18 per cent in quantity and were worth 21 per cent more than those posted during the same month a year earlier.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, described the yearly improvement in house purchase lending as encouraging, but added it remains to be seen “whether the end of the stamp duty concession will lead to a falling off in FTB numbers and how much this may be offset by the government’s NewBuy scheme”.
In addition to the rising level of FTB mortgage deals, it was shown that home movers also took out more loans in February, with 22,500 such deals representing a two per cent increase on January’s total.
