New figures have shown a fall in home loan approvals in Scotland . Mortgage approvals slumped by 18 per cent in the third quarter of 2008, with just 51,000 approvals granted during the three month period. Of those, 5,300 were first time buyer loans, worth £481 million, down from the 6,600 first time buyer loans worth £622 million in the previous quarter. The figures also revealed that the average first time buyer put down a 16 per cent deposit, whilst interest payments consumed 18.2 per cent of the average first time buyers income.
The average Scot borrowed 75 per cent of their propertys value in the last quarter, and 2.78 times their income. Those figures are both down from the previous quarter, as Scots had borrowed 77 per cent of their homes value and 2.88 times their income. Remortgaging was also down in the third quarter, with just 18,000 loans approved, worth £1.9 billion.
Despite the decline, Scotlands mortgage lending accounted for a greater proportion of UK mortgage lending than ever before signalling an even steeper decline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Council of Mortgage Lenders revealed that Scotland accounted for 12 per cent of UK lending a record high.










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