Peter Williams is executive director of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association
The mortgage market is back on the climb, following the momentary blip brought on by changing regulations.
Both the number and value of approvals have seen significant rises in the past month.
But such growth is no cause for alarm and certainly not a cause for further intervention to curb lending, particularly given that the latest signs point towards a calming of house price growth.
In fact, with mortgage approvals in June falling short of the six month average by 2%, these latest figures suggest there’s still some catch up to be done to get back to where we were before the regulatory slowdown.
Total lending in June rose to £17.1 billion – placing it on a par with the six-month average and up 1.9% from a year ago.
This upswing is a further sign that in spite of increasingly stringent criteria, lenders are still eager to lend to worthy applicants.
However, borrowers must also start to prepare for a rise in pricing, with a higher base rate firmly on the cards and with politicians still in the very earliest stages of tackling the systemic shortage of homes.
