Further signs are starting to be seen within the mortgage industry that the market continues to improve, with the mortgagor and the mortgage broker both benefiting from a 16% rise in mortgage lending seen in June within the UK.
Gross mortgage lending within the nation totalled £12.6 billion in June, representing a 16% increase from the previous month. The latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders are likely to benefit the mortgage industry.
The latest figures show the highest monthly total in mortgage lending since July 2010, although a 3% decrease in mortgage lending figures is still seen from this time last year. Gross lending throughout the second quarter of 2011 stood at £33.5 billion within the UK, a 11.1% increase to the £30.1 billion seen lent within the first quarter of 2011, yet once more a 3% decrease on the second quarter of 2010.
Bob Pannell, chief economist at the CML, says: “The UK economy continues to experience disappointing economic growth, strong consumer price pressures, falling disposable incomes and an uncertain jobs market. his backdrop weighs negatively on purchase decisions relating to home ownership.”
Pannell says: “UK households have made progress in bringing down debt burdens over the past year or so, but this largely stems from the restricted levels of new mortgage lending, unsecured write-offs and nominal income growth. Households in aggregate are not repaying their mortgage debt more quickly.”
It should be noted however that the buy to let mortgage market has increased substantially in recent months, in a move which should help to underpin mortgage lending over the coming months and benefit the mortgage broker industry. Lending within the first half of the year has totalled £63.7 billion, just slightly less that the £64.1 billion offered by mortgage providers within the UK in the first half of 2010.
Although these figures continue to show that the mortgage market is not out of the water and is still struggling to assert itself through difficult economic times, today’s news can only benefit the industry. With more mortgage packages being offered and mortgage rates continually decreasing, it seems that it is only a matter of time before consumers start to increase their confidence once more within the property and mortgage markets, benefiting the mortgage broker and the individual mortgagor alike.
