Legal News
UK Mortgage Market Showing Welcome Signs of Life, According To CML (13 October 2011)
Date: 13/10/2011
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the UK mortgage market is showing “signs of life”, although a housing boom is far from the horizon. 52,000 home loans were advanced for property purchases in August, an increase of seven per cent on July, the CML claimed. Statistics also showed a rise in remortgaging. Yet the CML echoed concerns that worries over the UK and European economies were denting consumer confidence in the housing market. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors claimed that a reduced number of homeowners were putting their houses on the market due to fragile consumer confidence.
UK property prices this August remained 1.3 per cent lower in comparison to August of last year, according to a Government house price survey. Homes increased in value by 0.6 per cent in comparison to July, with the average property price at £208,476, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) claimed. House prices have remained stable in recent months, surveys have shown. The Halifax has claimed that house prices are “lacking genuine direction”. The Nationwide Building Society, meanwhile, described prices as “treading water”. There have been signs, however, that house sales funded by mortgage borrowing may increase this autumn. The Bank of England has stated that mortgage approvals recently reached their highest monthly level since December 2009. The CML claimed that remortgaging was up 30 per cent in comparison to a year earlier, due to homeowners taking advantage of low mortgage rates.
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