Analysis of the intermediary marketplace conducted by Equifax Touchstone shows June 2015 was the strongest month for mortgage lending since the financial crisis of 2008.
Total lending reached £16.4bn, a year-on-year increase of £3.4bn or 26.5%.
Buy-to-let lending for the month was up by 37.9% year-on-year, reaching £3.8bn, and residential mortgage lending for the month totalled £12.6bn, a 23.5% increase on June 2014.
Month-on-month lending was also up. Compared to May 2015 residential increased by 14.7% and buy-to-let by 13.5%, a combined increase of 14.4% (£2bn).
The Equifax Touchstone data covers 92% of the intermediated lending market and shows that the average value of each mortgage in June was £185,551 for residential (June 2014: £175,278) and £156,573 for buy-to-let (June 2014: £146,150).
Year-to-date (January to June) residential sales are up 9.8% (£5.6bn) compared to 2014. Added to the buy-to-let sales growth at 25.3% (£3.8bn) total lending for the first half of 2015 has grown by £9.4bn (13%).
Iain Hill, relationship manager at Equifax Touchstone, said: “June has seen record post-crisis sales figures and the rate of growth has also increased significantly as the buoyancy resulting from a clear-cut election result continues. The month-on-month total lending increase of 14.4% for June compares to growth of just 3.3% growth the previous month.
“There are key changes ahead that will impact supply/demand dynamics and it will be interesting to see how this plays out in coming months.
“New restrictions on housing association rents will make it more difficult for them to build affordable homes, creating opportunities in the private sector as demand increases. The fallout of the Chancellor’s move in the Budget to reduce tax relief on mortgage interest payments is also one to watch. This may fuel rent increases by either reducing rental stock or landlords recovering the lost tax relief through higher rents.”
