More loans taken out in first 2 months of 2017 than any year since 2007 says CML
News release yesterday 11th April 2017 from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) Monthly Lendng Trends for February 2017 headlined ‘Home buying activity up 7% in February’.
The CML data revealed house purchase activity increased month-on-month and year-on-year, driven by first-time buyer activity. Remortgage activity continued year-on-year growth while buy-to-let declined.
Home buyers borrowed £8.9bn, up 6% on January and 2% on February 2016.
Paul Smee, Director General of the CML, commented: “Seasonal factors traditionally keep the market quieter in winter months, but 2017 began relatively strong on the house purchase side. Borrowers took out more loans to purchase a home in the first two months of 2017 than any year since 2007. This is down to strong first-time buyer activity which has consistently matched home mover borrowing over the past six months, a trend not seen in the UK for 20 years. House purchase activity on the buy-to-let lending side remains weak.
“This trend is expected to continue because of the tax changes from April and because lenders are tightening affordability criteria in response to PRA-mandated stress tests”.
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