New mortgages hit 10-year high as lending activity grows
Mortgage lending picked up in the second quarter of the year, with new commitments hitting their highest level in more than a decade amid a bump in the number of first-time buyers coming onto the property market.
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The value of new commitments hit £73bn in the three months to the end of June 2018, marking a sharp 19.8 per cent increase when compared with the previous quarter, according to statistics out today from the Bank of England.
Residential loan value also rose 3.8 per cent in the second quarter of this year, reaching £1.4bn.
The news comes after recent data from the National Association of Estate Agents found that the number of house sales to first-time buyers reached an eight-month high in July, as hopeful homeowners fill a void left by other buyers who have left the market during the holiday season.
Shaun Church, director at Private Finance, said: “Though initially slow off the starting line at the beginning of 2018, the UK housing market appears to be returning to racing form.
“First-time buyer lending has particularly improved; a positive sign that the government’s long list of initiatives aimed at this audience are having some effect. With today marking the 10-year anniversary of the Lehman Brothers' collapse – often cited as the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis – this serves as a reminder of how resilient the housing market has proved to be in the past decade.”
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Ross Boyd, founder of mortgage platform Dashly.com, added: “Brexit pessimism faded over the summer as borrowers shrugged off any uncertainty with a resurgent risk appetite.
“The proportion of higher loan-to-value (LTV) mortgages fell in the first quarter of the year but rose once more in the second as buyers turned their back on doom-mongering doubts over how the UK’s departure from the EU will play out.”