The Financial Blog

Mortgage lending in December was again low according to figures recently released from the BBA (British Bankers Association). Mortgage lending was reported to be weak and approvals were low.

David Dooks, BBA statistics director, said “Mortgage lending weakened notably in the second half of 2007 as the credit crunch impacted on banks’ ability to lend. At the same time, demand for mortgages also softened in the face of increased borrowing costs and lower disposable income. The combination of these factors is resulting in the marked market slowdown and weakness in house prices we are now seeing. Reports of high street sales over the Christmas period were mixed, but our figures show consumer borrowing to have been muted in December.”

It was really as expected with regards to mortgage lending figures in December, not traditionally the strongest month of the year. However, with mortgage approvals remaining low it looks like a weaker future for the months to come.

Even though mortgage rates are starting to creep in at just under the 5 per cent mark, lenders seem to be tightening their criteria when it comes to approving mortgage applications.

So make sure you seek independent financial advice from a ‘whole of market’ mortgage broker if you looking to re-mortgage soon.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm and is filed under Mortgages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.