The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has said the conditions in the housing market will remain steady, despite figures showing that gross lending fell by some 10% during November.
In total, gross lending for house purchases amounted to £12 billion during last month, down from £13.3 billion in October. However, the CML has said that a modest seasonal decline between the months is typical, although a 10% fall is a little larger than would usually be expected.
The body maintained that the underlying story in the market is one of steadying conditions, with little expectation that the position will change much in the coming months. “There is little reason to expect much underlying change in the coming months. There could be a modest decline in underlying house buying activity in early 2010 due to the stamp duty holiday ending, with activity bunching over the last few months of 2009,” said Paul Samter, CML economist. “But seasonal factors are likely to be the dominant driver over the next few months. There has been a modest increase in the availability of mortgage credit recently, including some tentative signs of a few higher LTV products emerging. But there is no sign of a swift recovery in lending volumes, especially with remortgaging set to remain at subdued levels while low interest rates persist.”
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Justin Moy