January lending followed seasonal pattern: CML

Published on

There was a fall in both house purchase and remortgage in January, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported.

35,600 loans (worth £5.3 billion) were taken out for house purchase in January. This is a rise of 22% by volume and 23% by value from a year ago but a fall of 25% by volume and 24% by value on December 2011.

The CML claims this reflects the normal seasonal pattern where cold weather, lack of daylight and post-Christmas cash flow problems in January are likely to deter buyers from moving house.

January saw a fall in both the number and value of loans taken out for remortgage. 26,600 loans (worth £3.6 billion) were taken out, down from 28,200 (worth £3.5 billion) in December. R

emortgage lending experienced its first year-on-year fall since the end of 2010, with the number of loans down 13% and the value down 5% from January 2011.

The number of both first-time buyers and home movers in January increased from the year before but fell from December. The number and value of first-time buyer mortgages fell 30% from December but rose by 23% from January 2011.

Home mover numbers fell from 28,900 (worth £4.7 billion) in December to 22,400 (worth £3.6 billion) in January. Like first-time buyers, there was a significant increase in numbers from the previous January, when 18,600 home movers took out loans worth £3.1 billion.

For the last year, first-time buyers have borrowed on average 80% of their property and that was unchanged for January. The typical home mover borrowed 70% for the fourth month running.

First-time buyers continue to pay less of their income on mortgage interest, 12.2%, down from 12.3% in December.

Paul Smee, the CML’s director-general, said: “We traditionally see a substantial fall in lending figures at the start of the year

Latest POLL

COMMENT ON MORTGAGE SOUP

We want to hear from you!
Leave a comment and get the conversation started.
You need to register to post, so please login or sign up below.

Latest articles

Bank of England expected to hold interest rates at 4.5% amid economic uncertainty

The Bank of England is widely expected to maintain interest rates at 4.5% when...

£6.5k bill for homebuyers who miss stamp duty deadline

Rent and mortgage spending rose 7.7% year-on-year in February, as more homeowners moved from...

Advice Guru partners with Pure Retirement to support broker education

Financial adviser learning platform Advice Guru has announced a new sponsorship partnership with Pure...

Nationwide ups LTV limits for interest-only and foreign national borrowers

Nationwide has announced changes to its mortgage lending criteria, increasing the maximum loan-to-value (LTV)...

Other news

Bank of England expected to hold interest rates at 4.5% amid economic uncertainty

The Bank of England is widely expected to maintain interest rates at 4.5% when...

£6.5k bill for homebuyers who miss stamp duty deadline

Rent and mortgage spending rose 7.7% year-on-year in February, as more homeowners moved from...

Advice Guru partners with Pure Retirement to support broker education

Financial adviser learning platform Advice Guru has announced a new sponsorship partnership with Pure...