Mortgage lending at its highest in December
23/01/2006
Mortgage lending reached its highest recorded level for December in 2005, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has announced.
Lending fell by six per cent to about £26.3 billion during December last year, yet this represents a 25 per cent growth in comparison to the same period in 2004.
The number of loans taken out typically drops towards the end of the year, but the decline was less substantial last year than has been witnessed before.
The CML also revealed that total gross lending for 2005 amounted to £297.5 billion, a fall of just one per cent on the record £291.2 billion of the previous year.
"The commentators who thought lending would fall sharply in 2005 based on the performance of the first half of the year were wrong," commented CML director general Michael Coogan.
"Confidence in the housing market was supported by the realisation that short-term interest rates had peaked and the downward trend in fixed-term rates throughout much of the year, resulting in stable house prices," he added.
The high level of loans taken out by Britons in the second half of 2005 is expected to continue into 2006.
Lending fell by six per cent to about £26.3 billion during December last year, yet this represents a 25 per cent growth in comparison to the same period in 2004.
The number of loans taken out typically drops towards the end of the year, but the decline was less substantial last year than has been witnessed before.
The CML also revealed that total gross lending for 2005 amounted to £297.5 billion, a fall of just one per cent on the record £291.2 billion of the previous year.
"The commentators who thought lending would fall sharply in 2005 based on the performance of the first half of the year were wrong," commented CML director general Michael Coogan.
"Confidence in the housing market was supported by the realisation that short-term interest rates had peaked and the downward trend in fixed-term rates throughout much of the year, resulting in stable house prices," he added.
The high level of loans taken out by Britons in the second half of 2005 is expected to continue into 2006.
