His comments followed figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), the Building Societies Association (BSA) and the Nationwide House price index which all showed strong growth in lending volumes and house prices.
The CML reported that lending rose 19.5 per cent in March, with a total of £24.5 billion of gross advances, up from £20.5 billion in February and 25 per cent higher than equivalent figures in March last year. The BSA asserts that net lending has increased by 37 per cent over the past year and the Nationwide house price index revealed average property prices were increasing by £100 per day.
Boulger said: “I don’t think that anybody predicted house prices would continue to rise as quickly as they have. It is difficult to predict when the slowdown will eventually happen, though the key factor will be what the Bank of England decides to do. At the moment they are sending out mixed messages.”
He went on to predict that the base rate would end the year at 4.5 per cent and that higher income multiples would help fuel the market.
