The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has confirmed that gross mortgage lending reached £18.6 billion in October.
This is 3% higher than September (£18.1 billion), and 6% higher than October last year (£17.5 billion). This is the highest lending total for an October since 2007 (£33.1 billion).
House purchase lending to home-buyers increased month-on-month in October totalling 65,000 loans. This was up 11% compared to September with the value of these loans totalling £10.9bn, a rise of 9%. Compared to October 2013, the number of loans increased by 9% and the value of lending by 15%.
First-time buyer affordability changed fractionally, with first-time buyers typically borrowing 3.39 times their gross income, compared to 3.40 in September. The typical loan size for first-time buyers fell slightly month-on-month to £125,800 in October, down from £126,000 in September. The typical gross income of a first-time buyer household changed slightly to £38,820 in October from £38,714 in September.
First-time buyers in October paid 19.5% of gross income towards covering capital and interest payments, little changed from 19.6% in September but still significantly less than the recent peak of 24.8% in December 2007.
Home movers typically borrowed three times their gross income in October, compared to 3.06 in September. The typical loan size for home movers was £153,000 in October, down from £154,965 in September. The typical gross household income of a home mover was £53,500 in October compared to £53,292 in September.
Home movers’ payment burden remained relatively low in October at 18.5% of gross income being spent to cover monthly capital and interest payments, down from 18.8% in September, and well below the recent peak of 23.8% in December 2007.
Remortgage lending activity saw a dip month-on-month in October, with the number of remortgage loans totalling 26,600. This was 6% down on September and 11% down on October last year. The value of these loans (£4.1 billion) was down 7% on the previous month and down 5% on October last year.
There were 19,600 buy-to-let loans in October, representing lending of £2.7bn. The number and value of these loans were up compared to September both by 8%. Compared to October 2013, this was a 22% increase by volume and 29% by value.
Within the overall total of buy-to-let loans in October, 9,900 were advanced for house purchase and 9,500 for remortgage. The number of buy-to-let house purchase loans increased by 13% compared to September and up 20% compared to October last year. This totalled £1.2bn in value, up 10% on September and up 28% on October last year.
The number of remortgage loans increased in October, up 3% on September and up 23% compared to October last year. These loans had a total value of £1.4bn, up 2% on September and up 26% on October last year.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: “This has been a year of change for our industry, but the market has shown remarkable stability with house purchase and buy-to-let lending showing steady, consistent growth throughout 2014 compared to 2013. There have been fluctuations month to month but overall the market appears to be showing a positive direction of travel going into the new year.
“Stamp duty reform was long overdue and it is welcome that the tax has been changed. It will now be interesting to see how the market reacts; the new structure should be less of a barrier to mobility for those looking to get on the housing ladder or movers looking to switch homes.”
Jeremy Duncombe, director of Legal & General Mortgage Club, added: “Lending to first time buyers and home movers picked up in October after falling slightly in August and September. At the start of this year we saw a lot of activity in the housing market as consumer confidence increased. This led to rapid increases in both lending figures and house prices.
“Over the autumn this activity has started to dip slightly, particularly in London and the South East. Last week the Chancellor announced significant changes to the stamp duty system which will make it cheaper for the majority of borrowers to purchase a property. This is likely to create an increase in housing activity as we move into the New Year.
“However, to balance this, and stop house prices rising too rapidly, it is important that we build more homes. At the moment we need to be building around 240,000 new homes each year to keep up with demand and this is not happening. Keeping the supply of new homes in line with the demand for housing stops prices rising rapidly.”
