Peter Williams is executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association
At a glance, this morning’s figures from the Bank of England might be seen as disappointing, with the number of approvals for both house purchase and remortgaging both showing a fall in June from May. Approvals for house purchase were down from 58,071 in May to 57,667 in June but the value was up from £8.6bn to £8.7bn. Remortgages fell in both value and number, down from £4.7 billion and 32,209 in May to £4.6 billion and 31,486 in June.
This modest adjustment when viewed in a broader context over six months shows that the number of loan approvals were in fact higher than the six month average, demonstrating that despite slight decline in June there is an underlying upward trend.
However, although Funding for Lending has made credit much more readily available many first time buyers continue to feel their dreams of homeownership slipping through their fingers as house prices continue to rise. They may now be hanging their hats on Osborne’s mortgage guarantee scheme, the second and more controversial phase of Help to Buy, which is due to be introduced at the start of next year.
