BoE reports June rise in lending

The Bank of England has revealed that lending to individuals increased to £1,544.7bn in June.

In addition, approvals of loans secured on dwellings rose to 122,765 from 121,626 in May.

Jeremy Duncombe, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, said: “Today’s results are indicative of how resilient the housing market is. However, what the figures do not show is that buyers are having to borrow larger sums of money as house prices continue to rise at a much higher rate than wage inflation.

“Put simply, house prices are making it extremely challenging for first time buyers to become home owners. To add to this, people already on the ladder are finding themselves stuck in their current homes due to the lack of supply, and the costs associated with moving. To redress these issues, the government needs to focus on building more housing across all types of tenure, as well as re-visiting whether levies such as Stamp Duty are stopping people moving.”

Andy Knee, chief executive of LMS, added: “The remortgage market enjoyed its best month in six months as activity soared to its highest level since January.

“The market is driven by record-low interest rates encouraging a greater number of remortgagors to fix for longer. But market competition is also playing a part, with some lenders offering rates as low as 0.99% in recent months.

“As the market grows busier, buyers and remortgagors must engage with law firms that are capable and have appropriate integrations with lenders to ensure nothing gets in the way of their deal being done.”

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