Housing market is 'in a rut'

People seeking out cheap mortgages have been told that gross home purchase lending remained stable in February.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders CML revealed that £9.5 billion was lent to homebuyers in February, a negligible increase on January's figure of £9.475 billion and a year-on-year increase of only one per cent.

Bob Pannell, chief economist at CML, told those looking for cheap mortgages that the new data has done nothing to change the prediction that 2011 will be a challenging year for the housing market.

"The housing market remains stuck in a rut and, while we do not anticipate much relief in next week's Budget, it does present an opportunity for the chancellor to address the reform of stamp duty," he said.

Raz Reichfeld, writing for Calabasaspatch.com, said that people who can afford to get a mortgage are in the fortunate position of being in a buyers' market.

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2011-03-18 12:56:50 © Moneyextra.com