January mortgage lending figures are 'no surprise'

The relatively weak level of mortgage lending in January has been met with little surprise from the British Bankers' Association BBA.

Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders CML revealed that gross mortgage lending totalled £9.1 billion last month, a fall from December's figure of £13.4 billion.

While declines are usually recorded at this time of year, January's amount is the lowest monthly total since February 2000, when gross mortgage lending amounted to £7.9 billion.

"It was no surprise to see the January mortgage figures falling back from December, when transactions were being pushed through to beat the end of stamp duty relief," BBA statistics director David Dooks explained.

"There was a natural reaction in the January figures and the bad weather further suppressed market activity."

Mr Dooks went on to say that an expensive Christmas period was also likely to have put some people from applying for cheap mortgages.

According to the CML, there are approximately 11 million mortgages in the UK, with their collective worth amounting to £1.2 trillion.

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2010-02-23 13:33:38 © Moneyextra.com