Housing market has been slowly building up momentum over the last few months according to CML

March 23, 2017

Press release today from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) headlines ‘Gross mortgage lending £18.2 billion in February’.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates that gross mortgage lending reached £18.2 billion in February.

Read the CML Gross Mortgage Lending release in full click here.

In the Market Commentary report also released today it states: The housing market has been slowly building up momentum over the last few months, largely getting back to activity levels we saw in the beginning of 2016.

House purchase approvals  reached 70,000 in January, approvals have been growing month-on-month for the past five months.

Lending is increasingly being driven by remortgage activity, as it grew over 20% over the last twelve months.

The number of first-time buyers rose to over 340,000 in the 12 months to January.

Commenting on market conditions in this month’s market commentary CML senior economist Mohammad Jamei said: “Mortgage lending is holding up well, but under the surface buyers face mixed fortunes. First-time buyers and customers who are remortgaging are driving total lending, while home movers and buy-to-let remain weak.

“The weakness in home movers means few properties are coming onto the market for sale, which is aggravating a supply demand imbalance that has characterised the market since late 2013. This looks set to continue at least over the next few months, posing an obstacle for would-be borrowers”.

Read the CML Market Commentary report March 2017 in full click here.

Allen Walkey

Highly experienced businessman with a successful career in property sales and investment both in the UK and abroad. Now a freelance writer and blogger for the property and Investment Industry, keeping readers up-to-date with changes and events in a rapidly changing world.

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