Gross mortgage lending dips amid Brexit uncertainty
BREXIT uncertainty was blamed for a decline in mortgage lending last month.
New data from trade body UK Finance showed that gross mortgage lending fell by 3.2 per cent to £24bn in August.
“While July’s figures were the highest since March 2016, it’s likely this dip in lending activity has been brought about by Brexit-linked uncertainty hitting buyers and sellers,” said Dilpreet Bhagrath, mortgage expert at Trussle.
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“Buyer demand for mortgage products has been the one area of the market to remain buoyant in the face of political uncertainty, and while it would seem that even this is starting to fall below expectation, we have seen them at least hover at consistent levels for a number of months now,” said Marc von Grundherr, director of London estate agent Benham and Reeves.
“While the chances are approval levels will no drop off steadily in the lead up to Christmas, we could see one last rally in October as aspirational buyers take advantage of current rates, in the event that a disorderly exit from the EU results in lenders tightening the purse strings.”
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However, 85,931 mortgages for home purchases were approved last month by high street banks – a 3.2 per cent increase from last year. Some analysts said that this indicated resilience in the market, despite the dip in gross mortgage lending.
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