The latest Bank of England Money and Credit Report has given encouragement to the property market.
According to the report findings, approvals for mortgage rose in April to their largest amount since 2009. In total, 68,076 house purchases mortgages were rubber-stamped last month, an increase of 9.89% from March and the highest rise since February six years ago.[1]
Confidence
These results are sure to buoy the mortgage market as they suggest that confidence appears to be growing, one year after the implementation of the Mortgage Market Review. All types of mortgage approvals during April were substantially above average for the last six months.
Head of lending at the Mortgage Advice Bureau, Brian Murphy, said that, ‘remortgage approvals have risen at twice the rate of house purchase approvals over the past year, despite tougher affordability checks which some feared would imprison consumers in their existing deals.’ He went on to say that, ‘falling mortgage rates have boosted demand in the remortgage sector and there are significant savings to be had for borrowers moving away from their lender’s standard variable rate.’[1]
Positive
Mr Murphy also said that, ‘with the election clearly having little impact on mortgage activity, the outlook for the rest of 2015 remains positive. Lenders have a healthy appetite for business and affordability conditions are being helped by the low rate environment.’[1]
He warns however that, ‘today’s rock-bottom prices can’t last forever and it is likely we’ll see greater levels of mortgage activity as borrowers seek to lock into a preferable rate while they still can.’[1]
[1] http://mortgageadvicebureau.com/news/Mortgageapprovalsjumpbyhighestamountinsixyears/1028/