April witnessed a marked reduction in gross mortgage lending when compared with that recorded the previous month.
This was the finding of new research from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which showed deals of this type fell by 19 per cent in this period, dipping from £12.6 billion to £10.2 billion.
Despite this reduction, it was shown that lending was two per cent higher than the £10 billion recorded in April 2011.
Bob Pannell, chief economist at the CML – which is a not-for-profit organisation and the trade association for the home loan industry – noted the underlying picture should be stronger than that suggested by April’s statistics, as lending activity has been “relatively buoyant” of late, while house purchase movement has also been strong.
Mr Pannell stated: “Some first-time buyers are likely to have brought forward their transactions to March to take advantage of the stamp duty concession that was coming to an end.”
He added, however, that developments in the Eurozone remain uncertain and could result in the UK’s economic prospects in the housing and mortgage markets being seriously undermined.
