News Tag: approvals
March 12, 2010
There were 49% fewer house purchase loans approved in January than in December, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported.
According to the body, the steep decline "emphatically demonstrates" the impact of the end of the stamp duty holiday, in December.
First-time buyers recorded the largest drop among house purchasers: in January, approvals were down to 11,300 compared with 24,800 in December.
However, January first-time ...
New mortgage lending plummets
by Gill Montia
February 23, 2010
The British Bankers' Association (BBA) has reported that mortgage lending in January was "relatively weak", as adverse weather conditions and an inflated December market impacted on house sales.
Last month, BBA members approved 35,000 loans to home buyers, down from 46,000 in December but up 37.8% on a year earlier.
Remortgaging approvals stood at 20,252, compared with 23,609 in December, and were down ...
New mortgage lending falls away
by Gill Montia
February 13, 2010
First-time buyer mortgage approvals hit a two-year high in December as those buying properties costing up to £175,000 rushed their purchases through before the end of the stamp duty holiday.
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), 24,900 first-time buyer loans were sanctioned worth £2.9 billion, leaving both figures up 26% on November.
In December, house purchase approvals in general totalled ...
First-time buyer loans hit two-year high
by Gill Montia
February 2, 2010
UK lenders sanctioned an additional £1.2 billion in mortgages in December 2009, according to Bank of England statistics.
The figure fell below the revised November total of £1.6 billion, but remained above the previous six-month average of £0.9 billion.
The annual rate of growth slipped to 0.9% (1% in November) but the three-month-on-three month measure held steady at 1.2%, when ...
December dip in house purchase mortgage approvals
by Gill Montia
January 18, 2010
Lenders are shunning the remortgage market, and the situation is unlikely to change until 2011, according to housing intelligence outfit, Hometrack.
The firm's strategy, risk and economics director, Gary Styles, explains that lenders have been focusing their attention on house purchase lending, in some cases because they have government targets to hit.
In addition, remortgaging activity has plummeted as low interest rates encourage ...
Remortgaging activity to resurface in 2011
by Gill Montia
January 14, 2010
Home buyers needed to use less of their income to cover their mortgage interest in November than at any time for more than five years, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported.
Home movers were particularly well placed, typically needing only 10.6% of gross income to cover mortgage interest payments, down from 11.1% in October.
According to the CML, ...
Mortgages at their most affordable in five years
by Gill Montia
January 4, 2010
Figures published today show that people in the UK continue to repay debt as the incentive to save remains low in the current historically low interest rate environment.
According to the Building Societies Association (BSA), its members withdrew more money than they saved for the ninth consecutive month in November.
The BSA said there was a net withdrawal of ...
Savings continue to fall as consumers opt to repay debt
by Kay Murchie
December 10, 2009
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that approvals for house purchase loans increased to 55,000 in October, the highest level since December 2007 and up from a January 2009 low of 23,000.
However, October remortgaging approvals remained static on a month earlier at 33,000 and apart from a total of 30,000 in August, remortgaging is at its ...
House purchase loans at highest level for two years
by Gill Montia
October 29, 2009
September's mortgage approvals for house purchases were at their highest level since March 2008, the Bank of England has reported.
During the month, lenders endorsed 56,215 loans for home buyers, a 3,000 plus improvement on August.
However, remortgaging volumes continued to decline.
Commenting on the data, Council of Mortgage Lenders' economist, Paul Samter, observes: “There is clear evidence of a significant pick up in ...
New mortgage lending sees September boost
by Gill Montia
September 14, 2009
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported that lending for house purchases rose in July, showing annual growth for the first time since early 2007.
Approvals increased to 56,000, up 24% on June and 19% on a year earlier.
In terms of value, house purchase loans totalled £7.5 billion compared with £7.1 billion in July of 2008.
Remortgaging remained "unsurprisingly weak", according ...
House purchase lending up 19% in July
by Gill Montia
August 26, 2009
Mortgage lending activity in Scotland has begun to stabilise, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) reports.
In the second quarter of 2009 there were 11,400 house purchase loans taken out across the region, a 50% rise from 7,600 during the previous three months, but nevertheless 39% below the figure for a year earlier.
The increase was spread evenly across first-time buyers and ...
Mortgage lending picks up for Scotland
by Gill Montia
August 11, 2009
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has today revealed that the number of mortgages approved for house purchase soared 23% in June, compared with May.
The rise is the fifth consecutive monthly increase and represents the highest level for a year.
According to the CML, 45,000 home loans were granted during the month - just 6% lower than June 2008 ...
CML reports 23% rise in mortgage approvals for June
by Kay Murchie
July 29, 2009
New figures from the Bank of England show the number of mortgages approved for house purchases increasing to 47,584 in June, up from 44,169 in May and reaching their highest level since April 2008.
However, over the six months to the end of June, new home loan approvals were down 36% on the same period of 2008.
Last month also saw the number of ...
Rise in new mortgage approvals
by Gill Montia
June 29, 2009
The outlook for the UK property market remains positive with the Bank of England reporting a rise in new mortgage approvals during May.
The number of loans approved for house purchases increased to 43,414, up from 43,191 in April and marking the fourth consecutive monthly rise.
However, in value terms net lending for house purchases increased by just £324 million in May, the ...
New mortgage approvals rise again
by Gill Montia
April 14, 2009
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported a 4% rise in mortgage approvals for house purchases in February.
During the month 24,300 loans were sanctioned worth a combined £3.1 billion.
The figure compares with 23,400 loans in January worth £3.1 billion but is around one-third of the average February total of 76,000 between 2002 and 2007.
Remortgaging approvals fell by 20% to 35,000 ...
New mortgage lending up 4%
by Gill Montia
March 30, 2009
Bank of England figures show the number of new mortgages rising by 19% during February.
Last month, the volume of loans approved for house purchases increased to 37,937, up from 31,791 in January.
The figure is at its highest since May of 2008 and compares with a six-month average of 31,500.
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors recently reported that new buyer enquiries ...
Sharp rise in new mortgage approvals
by Gill Montia
January 30, 2009
The Bank of England has reported a slight rise in new mortgage approvals.
During December, 31,000 home loans were approved for new purchases, up from 27,000 a month earlier.
However, the figure is the second-lowest on record, having edged ahead from the nadir of November.
According to the Bank, new mortgage approvals fell by 58% during 2008 with a total of 519,000 approvals during ...
New mortgage approvals down 58%
by Gill Montia
January 2, 2009
The Bank of England has reported that mortgage approvals for house purchases fell to 27,000 in November.
The record low represents a 67.1% decline on similar approvals for November 2007.
A month earlier in October, approvals fell by 1,000 (from September) to 32,000 and November's figure is therefore 13% down month-on-month, ending a four-month period during which approvals for new home loans had ...
New mortgage lending down 67.1%
by Gill Montia
October 29, 2008
The Bank of England has reported that mortgage approvals for house purchases rose slightly during September, to 33,000, compared to 32,000 a month earlier.
The increase is the first recorded by the Bank since June 2007.
While mortgage lending for new purchases was still below the six month average (£3.5 billion), it gained ground on August, at £2.2 billion.
The August figures were some ...
BoE confirms rise in mortgage approvals
by Gill Montia
October 23, 2008
Latest figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) show that the number of mortgages approved for house purchases rose slightly during September.
According to the seasonally adjusted data 23,422 loans were sanctioned by Britain's banks and building societies, 10% more than in August (when approvals hit a record low of 21,342) but 57% fewer than in September 2007.
Last month's remortgage approvals were ...
Slight rise in September mortgage approvals
by Gill Montia
