Gross mortgage lending increases 8% in April

by Aaron Strutt

May 23 2014

Gross mortgage lending was an estimated £16.6 billion in April, up 8% on the £15.4bn completed in March, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.  This is 36% higher than the £12.2 billion in April 2013 and the highest total for an April since 2008’s £25.7 billion.

Bob Pannell, CML chief economist at the Council of Mortgage Lenders, says: “The Bank of England has signalled that macro-prudential measures to limit the housing market upturn are likely in the near future, and possibly in the very near future.

“Forthcoming measures will, in our estimation, be careful, calibrated, and proportionate, and designed to reinforce prudent affordability checks, rather than to apply the brakes to the housing market in a more dramatic fashion.”