Mortgage lending will be one of the last parts of the economy to recover, the CML has said after revealing its latest monthly statistics.
Mortgage lending fell by eight percent in during the first month of 2009, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lending (CML). Britons took out a total of £12,400 million in mortgages in January – which is the lowest monthly sum noted since April 2001.
The CML said that a slight decline in January traditionally usually occurs, but compared last month's lending figure to that recorded in January 2008 when customers borrowed a total of £25,903 million. Mortgage activity has fallen by 52 percent over the past year and a recover is less than likely in the near future, CML head of research Bob Pannell explained.
He added: "Mortgage lending activity continues to be very weak and while people are searching eagerly for some signs of recovery, it would be unrealistic to expect a meaningful revival in lending in coming months. Even when conditions do improve, gross lending will be one of the later measures to recover."
Figures released earlier this month by the CML suggested that changes to the UK economy "reshaped" the mortgage market in 2008. Just 516,000 loans for house purchase were taken out over the entire 12 months – a fall of 49 percent on 2007's results – and the lowest annual activity figure in 30 years.
