A slight pick up in mortgage approvals last month should offer some signs of optimism for the market, it has been suggested.
Paula John, editor of Your Mortgage, said that recent statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) seem to buck the seasonal trend, as approvals tend to decline over the festive season.
"There are more mortgage lenders playing in the higher LTV [loan-to-value] arenas, so more of them are offering mortgages at 80 per cent LTV plus," she explained.
The CML reported that mortgage lending in December 2009 reached an estimated £13.7 billion, marking a 14 per cent rise on the previous month.
Compared to statistics from December 2008, this indicated a three per cent increase.
Ms John continued: "There has been more activity in the housing market, first-time buyer numbers are not dramatically up or down on their historical average, but they have picked up a bit which is always good news."
She also stressed that this year so far has proved to be "surprisingly upbeat", with the market showing itself to be more buoyant that people had imagined.
There has been no such let up when it comes to remortgaging activity, Ms John said, which she described as being "dead in the water" due to customers refusing to move from their standard variable rate mortgages.
CML figures show that lending last year equated to £143.7 billion, meaning it was down 43 per cent from £253 billion in 2008 and represented the lowest annual total since 2000.
"The fact that it was 43 per cent was no surprise because people have just been sitting tightly on their hands, not wanting to move house and not being able to access finance," commented Ms John.
In order to get the best mortgage rates, people are finding they will need a minimum deposit of 40 per cent, which most people cannot afford, she added. |
0 comments
