LONDON: There has been a slight slowing down in underlying mortgage lending for October, according to the British Bankers' Association. It said the lending rose by 4.3 billion pounds, compared with a downwardly revised 4.7 billion pounds in September and the average figure of 4.4 billion pounds for the past six months.
The association described the trend as bringing in stability in the housing sector. The association's director of statistics David Dooks said the figures indicated broad stability and little prospect of big moves upward or downward in the near term.
The association said credit card lending rose by 243 million pounds, stronger than both September and the six-month average.
Meanwhile, the Building Societies Association, in a set of figures released, said the value of mortgage approvals -- loans agreed but not yet made -- increased to 4.2 billion pounds compared with 3.8 billion in September. The year ago figure was 3.1 billion pounds.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders put mortgage lending at 26.96 billion pounds in October, down from 27.68 billion for September but up 16 per cent on a year ago.
Michael Coogan, director general of CML said the resilience of lending activity in recent months contrasts sharply with the ongoing uncertainty about household finances and consumer confidence. He added that he expects the gross mortgage advances for 2005 to hit around 280 billion pounds this year, similar to the levels seen in 2003 and 2004.
Posted
on : Sat, 19 Nov 2005 11:40 GMT | Mortgages News
By : Paula Jenkins
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