Mortgage lending is now the highest it has been in the last five years.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has published its quarterly figures – which show an increase of almost a third compared with the same period in 2012.
Its figures for the third quarter of 2013 show £49.3 billion worth of mortgage lending took place between June and September.
That is the highest amount since the third quarter of 2008 – and a 17.6 per cent increase on the previous quarter of this year.
Month by month, September’s figures were slightly down on August’s – going down from £16.4 billion to £16.2 billion – however, both were still a great improvement on September 2013’s £11.5 billion.
CML chief economist Bob Pannell said: “Indicators suggest we are witnessing the strongest house purchase performance in five years. House prices too have revived but modestly, aside from a resurgent London market.”
He added that the CML expects to have to wait several months before the impact of the new Help to Buy scheme on the the housing market is revealed.
