Industry figures show that mortgage lending fell in August, as part of the traditional summer decline in market activity, although borrowing is still higher than this time last year.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders said that August lending was 9 per cent lower than July, hitting £19.7bn, but this figure was still 10.7 per cent higher than August 2014.
Home-movers made up £7.1bn of that figure (8 per cent more than last year), whilst first-time buyers were responsible for £4.2bn ( a rise of 5 per cent from 12 months previously).
Owner-occupiers borrowed the same amount as first-time buyers, by remortgaging, representing an increase of 20 per cent as they looked to lock in to low interest rates, in anticipation of the Bank of England increasing rates.
Mortgages are becoming more widely available, the Bank of England revealed in separate data, with banks and lenders surveyed saying they were more open to loan applications for both low and high loan-to-value ratios.
The banks are also anticipated to become more generous with credit. Whilst this is good news, house prices continue to rise, especially for first-time buyers, which may hold many back from getting onto the property ladder.
Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, said: “We expect house prices to rise 7 per cent in 2015 and then by 6 per cent in 2016.”
