UK mortgage lending down in November
Gross mortgage lending fell by 10% in November to £12 billion, down from £13.3 billion the previous month. While a fall in mortgage lending is not uncommon around this particular time of year, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) confirmed that the fall seen in November was greater than normal.
This has put yet another dent into hopes that the UK property sector is on the verge of a significant recovery and caused more confusion amongst analysts. To say that the UK property sector is currently unpredictable is an understatement to say the least, but gradually we are seeing signs of recovery and positive moves within the sector. Many people believe that we need to see increased competition amongst mortgage providers before we will see any long-term recovery in mortgage liquidity, and we can effectively write off the next few weeks as the festive period is the quietest time of the year.
Significantly, the average price of property in the UK continues to move gradually higher despite the fact we have seen enormous variations in the amount of mortgage liquidity made available to the market. It will be interesting to see if this particular trend continues in the first half of 2010, which will be of vital period for not only the UK economy but the UK property sector in particular.
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