30-04-2008
CML predicts slow year after Bank's mortgage figures
News by Adfero for Simply Business - independent providers of public liability insurance, business finance, landlord insurance, buy-to-let mortgages & commercial mortgages.
New figures which show a decline in the number of mortgages approved for house purchase in the UK are "no surprise" to a major trade body.
Data from the Bank of England found that new mortgage approvals - including buy-to-let home loans - fell to a low of 64,000 in March, down from 72,000 in the previous month.
This was the lowest level of mortgage approvals since January 1999 - and was 44 per cent lower than figures from March 2007.
However, such pessimistic figures were predicted by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the UK's largest mortgage trade body.
CML director general Michael Coogan said: "It comes as no surprise that approvals for house purchase have continued to decline. This will result in a substantially lower level of housing transactions in 2008 than we saw last year."