UK Mortgage Lending Falls 10% in November

The latest figures released by the Council of Mortgage Lenders on December 17th showed that UK mortgage lending declined by 10% in November, which fact raised concerns supported by the report on UK housing market environment for 2010 earlier published by the Bank of England.
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), total lending of British banks and building societies to new customers and those wishing to remortgage amounted to £12 billion in November 2009. The month-on-month decline, thus, constitutes 10%, while the year-on-year fall is 14%. Statistics shows that UK mortgage lending in November 2009 soared by 60% compared to £29.6 billion given out in mortgages and remortgages 2 years ago (November 2007).
Commenting on the figures, experts at the Council of Mortgage Lenders say that such a significant decline in mortgage lending is determined by several factors, including seasonal changes. The CML claimed that a modest fall in mortgage lending has always been characteristic of this time of year, however, a 10% drop is larger than normal.
Talking about the findings, Mr. Samter of the Council of Mortgage Lenders said that despite the fact that UK mortgage industry saw some positive signs, such as introduction of a number of high LTV products, the overall lending volumes are set to remain low.
As such, the Council of Mortgage Lenders believes that the level of mortgage lending in November indicates further “deterioration in the housing market.”
Let us remind that the Bank of England earlier published a report, in which it predicted that mortgage lending in Great Britain will be “muted,” meaning that the long-awaited recovery of the property market may take longer than expected.
The Central Bank’s report states that major UK lenders will face muted mortgage lending in 2010 as such negative factors as high unemployment rate, growing house prices and changes in the bank rate will definitely have a huge impact on the sector.