Commenting on the figures, Adrian Coles, Director General of the BSA said:- "The depressed housing market is seeing mortgage lending by building societies remaining low. With recent figures from the Land Registry suggesting that property prices continued to fall in November and with concerns over job security high, it is no surprise that buyers are keeping out of the market. However it is encouraging to note that after the negative net advances figures in the summer the last three months have seen positive figures which suggests perhaps that the market is not deteriorating even further."
Turning to the savings figures, Mr. Coles said:- "Net receipts into building societies were £636 million. With the 150 basis point interest rate cut in November people were anxious to take out fixed rate savings accounts before the cut was reflected in the savings rates offered by societies, while some reclaimed savings from failed Icelandic banks will have also been deposited in society accounts."
Building society statistics November 2008
Building society gross lending amounted to £2,595 million in November 2008 compared to £ 4,070 million in November 2007.
Net lending by building societies in November 2008 was £422 million compared to £790 million in November 2007.
Approvals in November 2008 were £2,082 million compared to £3,850 million in November 2007.
Building societies had net receipts of £636 million in November 2008 compared to net receipts of £2,348 million in November 2007. The 2007 figure was heavily influenced by the run on Northern Rock.
Building societies had net receipts of £83.1 million from Cash IAS in November 2008, compared to net receipts of £56 million in November 2007.
