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Mortgage lending hit £9.2bn in February
19/03/10
Edited by Andy Jowett. Gross mortgage lending rose to £9.2 billion in February, according to the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The organisation said that the value of secured loans for residential property purchase and remortgaging was up six per cent on January's figure of £8.7 billion.
It added that while an increase in gross lending is unusual during the shortest month of the year, it is unsurprising given that the end of the stamp duty holiday for properties valued at between £125,000 to £175,000 "considerably" distorted the statistics for December and January.
Commenting on the figures, the body's economist Paul Samter said that confidence in the market is expected to improve as UK growth recovers and the country moves past the election.
However, although the markets are better than they were, conditions remain difficult and this could limit the flow of mortgage finance, he added.
"With activity unlikely to pick up much in the short term, we would expect to see further modest volatility in the coming months," Mr Samter said.
According to Nationwide, the average UK house price stood at £161,320 in February.
