Latest Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) data has shown that lending in Wales for house purchase and remortgage increased in the final of quarter 2015, both on the third quarter and compared to the same period in 2014.
During the fourth quarter of 2015, home-owner house purchase lending totalled 7,900 loans, up 7% on the previous quarter and 14% on the fourth quarter 2014. These loans were worth £1bn, up 9% quarter-on-quarter and 20% year-on-year.
First-time buyers took out 3,700 loans in Wales, worth £410m, up 3% by volume and by value on the third quarter. Compared to the same period the previous year, this was up 16% by volume and 21% by value.
There were 4,200 home-mover loans, up 11% on the previous quarter and 14% more than in the fourth quarter of 2014. The total value of these loans was £600m, up 11% quarter-on-quarter and 20% year-on-year.
Remortgage lending in Wales grew to £430m (3,800 loans), up 8% by value and 3% by volume quarter-on-quarter. Compared to the fourth quarter 2014, this was an increase of 19% by volume and 26% by value.
Meanwhile, the CML also reported that during the whole of 2015, home-owner house purchase lending totalled 27,300 loans worth £3.4bn, up 4% by volume and 10% by value compared to 2014.
First-time buyers took out 13,000 loans, worth £1.4bn, up 7% by volume and 10% by value year-on-year. Home movers took out 14,400 annually, worth £2bn, up 3% by volume and 10% by value on 2014. Remortgage lending came to 14,300 loans, worth £1.6bn, , up 12% by volume and 16% by value on the previous year.
Julie-Ann Haines, CML chair for Wales, said: “The continued growth in all lending types meant that more people bought homes in Wales in 2015 than any other year since 2007, and it is welcome to see both first-time buyers and home movers driving this growth.
“With affordability being better in Wales than the UK overall, and demand-led government schemes like Help to Buy Cymru proving popular, we’d expect this upward trend to continue in 2016.”