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Tuesday 18th May 2010
Housing market regains momentum
Housing market activity bounced back during March with a 25% jump in the number of mortgages advanced to people buying a property, figures have shown.
Around 45,000 mortgages were lent for house purchase during the month, up from 36,000 in February, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
The increase suggests the housing market is regaining momentum following a subdued start to the year due to the end of the stamp duty holiday and January's severe winter weather.
Lending for house purchase was 45% higher than it had been in March 2009, the ninth consecutive month of year-on-year growth.
But only 112,000 loans were advanced during the whole of the first quarter, down from 171,000 during the three months to the end of December.
However, the CML stressed that no trend could be inferred from this, as the figures were distorted by people rushing through transactions on lower value properties before the stamp duty holiday ended.
First-time buyer activity rebounded quicker than that for home movers during March, with 17,300 first-time buyers taking out a mortgage during the month, 27% more than in February.
A further 27,500 mortgages were taken out by former owner-occupiers, 24% up on the previous month's figure.
Overall, advances to all people purchasing a property totalled £6.3 billion during March.
Michael Coogan, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said: "The figures indicate there is currently some momentum to house purchase lending. But for the sake of the future health of the housing and mortgage markets, the new Government will need to focus on the critical issue of funding and how to address the issues arising from the repayment of the emergency support provided during the financial crisis."
Source: Press Association