Lending has cooled down with all borrower groups getting fewer loans towards the end of 2014.
CML’s latest figures show a 12 per cent monthly drop in house purchase lending to home buyers in November 2014, with loans for first-time purchases falling 11 per cent month-on-month.
The “figures represent something of a sobering up for the mortgage market after the highs of the first three-quarters of the year. Lending is down across the board, from first-time buyers through remortgagors to home movers. Even the previously buoyant buy-to-let sector is also being affected by the malaise, although at least it can boast an annual improvement unlike the other areas, “ Duncan Kreeger (left), director of bridging lender West One Loans, comments.
“Compare this with the bridging market where lending has improved by 26% year-on-year and it shows the gulf in attitudes between high street lenders and smaller, alternative finance providers. The big banks are still reluctant to lend on all but the most straightforward of cases, whereas bridging lenders show more flexibility in accessing the merits of each case and helping get projects off the ground and people moving,” Kreeger says.
There were 25,900 loans advanced to first-time buyers in November. Home movers got 29,700 new deals, down by 13 per cent on October. People looking to remortgage received a total of 24,000 loans, an 8 per cent drop from a month ago. The number of buy-to-let loans declined by a monthly 10 per cent to 17,700.
