The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revealed a stabilisation of the levels of mortgage lending. Third quarter figures revealed that 51,000 loans for house purchases were approved in September, slightly above the 50,000 approved in August, while just below the 53,000 of July. Despite the small decrease since July, the third quarter figures represented an improvement on the same quarter of 2008 following 25 months of gradual year on year decline.
Meanwhile, lending picked up slightly in October, with 56,000 home loan approvals – the highest level since March 2008. The figures have prompted analysts to forecast a positive fourth quarter, with some experts even predicting a rise in lending over the next few months.
Although first time buyers are still being asked to put down an average deposit of 25 per cent, the UK property market has picked up in the past six months. Sales and property prices have recovered slightly after being decimated by the credit crunch at the end of 2007. The recovery has been helped by the stamp duty holiday, with the CML estimating that 132,500 mortgage funded house purchases have escaped stamp duty. However, interest rates remain high despite the Bank of England holding the base rate at 0.5 per cent once again.






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