LONDON (MNI) – Mortgage lending picked up in October, adding to the
evidence that the Bank of England’s Funding for Lending Scheme has given
the housing market a boost.
Council of Mortgage Lenders data showed gross, unadjusted mortgage
lending rose to stg12.9 billion in October from stg11.39 billion in
September and was up 4.2% from the stg12.377 billion recorded in
October last year. The stg12.9 billion outturn was the highest since
November 2011.
“House purchase and remortgage activity both appear to have picked
up recently, and this should be supported by an improvement in the
availability and pricing of mortgage,” CML chief economist Bob Pannell
said.
“The Funding for Lending Scheme is likely to have made an early
positive impact, helping to counter some of the negative pressures
associated with a protracted and weak economic recovery,” he added.
The FLS, designed to boost bank lending by lowering the cost of
funding, was activated in Augusted and the BOE’s Quoted Rates data do
show rates have fallen on fixed rate mortgages.
Senior BOE official Andrew Bailey said Monday, when asked about the
FLS during an evidence session at a parliamentary committee, that the
evidence “would indicate that there is more sign of activity on the
mortgage side than there is on the corporate lending side”.
-London bureau: +4420 7862 7491; email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,MABDS$]
