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Home buying lending in the UK was flat in January but remortgaging activity was boosted by a plethora of low deals, the latest published figures suggest. The data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders, now available on an unadjusted basis for the first time, gives a more complete picture as it makes it easier to spot underlying trends, according to Paul Smee, CML director general. He explained that while the unadjusted data appears to show large falls month on month, stripping out the usual January lull gives a different picture. ‘We see a general picture of flat house purchase lending but a significant uptick in remortgage activity as borrowers continue to seek attractive new deals despite the lower for longer expectations for interest rates,’ Smee said. On an unadjusted basis, the figures shows that home owners borrowed £8.4 billion for house purchase, down 25% month on month but up 12% year on year. They took out 46,200 loans, down 27% on December but up 5% on January 2015. First time buyers borrowed £3.3 billion in January, down 27% on December but up 14% on January last year. This totalled 21,400 loans, down 28% month on month but up 6% year on year. Home movers borrowed £5.1 billion, down 24% on December but up 11% compared to a year ago. This totalled 24,800 loans, down 26% month on month but up 3% on January 2015. Home owner remortgagors borrowed £5.8 billion, up 35% on December and 32% compared to a year ago. This totalled 33,100 loans, up 28% month on month and 19% compared to a year ago. Landlords borrowed £3.7 billion in January, up 9% month on month and 42% year on year. This came to 23,100 loans in total, of which 13,400 were for remortgage, up 3% compared to December and up 31% compared to January 2015. Peter Rollings, chief executive officer of Marsh & Parsons, pointed out that with interest rate rises postponed into next year or beyond, remortgaging activity is going from strength to strength, reaching its highest monthly level for seven years. ‘Landlords are in more of a hurry, and don’t have long left to snap up investment properties before being struck with more debilitating stamp duty. As a result, this storming growth in buy to let borrowing is likely to be short lived, and be balanced out by a more sedate second quarter of the year,’ he said. ‘But Government support schemes have proved a tonic for first time buyers, and this is likely to provide good vitals throughout 2016 as a whole. Existing home owners should be feeling revived too, as house prices show healthy improvements, triggering many to make the plunge and start trading up. It’s supply of homes on the property market that is the fly in the ointment currently, and is the biggest threat to quashing this confidence,’ he added. David Whittaker, managing director of Mortgages for Businesses, explained that in the… Taylor Scott International
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