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Overall mortgage lending boosted by homebuyers
A total of £11bn was lent to homebuyers in November, up 5% month-on-month and 2% year-on-year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.
It said this was broken down into £4.7bn to first-time buyers and £6.3bn to home movers.
Remortgaging fell 5% between October and November, slipping to £5.8bn, although this was still a significant 13% higher than a year earlier, as borrowers took advantage of low mortgage rates.
The buy-to-let market is still well down over the year, by 9%, with £3.2bn lent in November. This was, however, a 10% increase on the low October figures.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: “November lending reflected stable market conditions. Overall, 2016 did not match recent years in terms of house purchase growth, but lending remained resilient through regulatory and political change and aspirations for home-ownership remain strong in the UK. Our forecasts for 2017 may be less bullish than a year ago, as economic uncertainty weighs on the market, but we still predict 1.2m transactions and a slight increase in gross lending to £248bn.”
Charles Haresnape, group managing director, mortgages, at Aldermore, added: “Month-on-month rises in lending to home owners, movers, first-time buyers and landlords are a positive sign of the strength of the UK’s housing market.”
