Number Of New Home Loans Increases In September
No, you haven’t misread the title of this article, it’s true….the number of new home loans has actually increased through the month of September! The latest news on the housing and mortgage loan markets comes from figures just released by the Bank of England which reveal that the total amount of new home loans increased by £2.2 billion over the course of last month, following a decrease for the previous month.
According to the figures, there were 143,000 new mortgage loans approved during September, against only 135,000 in August and although a high percentage of this was made up of remortgage business, it still shows that some confidence is starting to return to the mortgage and home loan markets and also that some level of liquidity is being restored to lenders following the Governments recent rescue package.
The amount of increase of net consumer borrowing on other personal loans and credit cards, however, fell in September against the figure for August and also the average figure for the previous six months. Net consumer lending on personal loans and credit cards grew by only 0.3 per cent last month and the most likely reason for this is that people are starting to tighten their belts against the prospect of a further slow down in the UK economy.
Nicholas Leeming of Propertyfinder.com said “At last it looks like the rot has stopped in the housing market. The prospect of sharply lower interest rates, the suspension of stamp duty at the lower end and the increasing perception that property prices are looking more attractive has put a floor under housing transactions.
Prices will take longer to recover, but despite this, just under 60 per cent of people in our October survey actually think this is a good time to buy property. For the time being, lack of mortgage availability is holding most people back but interbank lending rates are now falling, giving more cause for hope. We are by no means looking at a speedy recovery, but today’s figures show that there is still life in the housing market.”
