Mortgage lending in Scotland was up 9 per cent in Q3, compared to the same period last year, representing a third successive quarter of growth.
However, in a report by the Council of Mortgage Lenders it was found that growth in Scotland was 7 per cent below growth in the rest of the UK.
First-time buyers in Scotland borrowed £460 million in the third quarter, lending the UK average of 80 per cent of the overall value of their property, on a par with the figure for the last 18 months.
The typical amount to borrow for first-time buyers was 2.83 times their income, lower than the 3.25 UK average.
While there was an increase in lending to first-time buyers in Scotland, there was a slight fall in lending to home movers in the third quarter.
There were 7,400 loans advanced to home movers, a 3 per cent fall compared to the third quarter (7,600 loans) and down by 6 per cent on the same period last year (7,900 loans). By value, home movers borrowed £1 billion in the third quarter of 2012, down from £1.01 billion in the previous quarter and £1.05 billion in the same quarter of 2011.
As in the UK overall, there was a fall in remortgage lending in Scotland compared to both the previous quarter and the third quarter of 2011. A total of £670 million was advanced to borrowers remortgaging, down from £740 million in the last quarter and a 28 per cent fall compared to the £930 million advanced this time last year.
Iain Malloch, chair of CML Scotland, commented: “The boost in first-time buyers is encouraging but the rest of the market still remains broadly flat. The Funding for Lending scheme is likely to assist with growth going forward and we welcome the MI New Home scheme – enabling people to access higher loan-to-value mortgages on new build properties – but it’s still too early to see any meaningful effects flowing into the market as yet.”
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