Gross mortgage lending across the UK’s residential market in June 2019 was £21.9 billion, some 4% lower than the same month the previous year with analysists suggesting the slowdown is part of wider Brexit uncertainty.
The industry data from UK Finance showing a further slowdown in mortgage lending also showed that the number of mortgages approved for home purchase by the major high street banks was up by 2.9% on June 2018.
According to John Goodall, chief executive officer of Landbay, would-be buyers have been pausing on any decision, waiting for more clarity over the UK’s future direction but with a new Prime Minister in place they well consider making their property move between now and the October Brexit deadline.
‘We are in a buyers’ market amid subdued house prices, decent wage growth and lenders with a genuine appetite to lend. Add to the mix low interest rate conditions alongside stable inflation and it’s not hard to see why things could be looking up in the near term,’ he said.
Mike Scott, chief property analyst at full-service estate agent Yopa, pointed out that while mortgage approvals from the banks may have increased year on year, the rise was considerably smaller than the previous month which was 9.1%.
‘A number of smaller lenders, whose data is not included in this report, have stopped new mortgage lending within the past year, so the high street lenders now have less competition and an increase in their business was to be expected,’ he explained.
‘Nevertheless, it suggests that there has been little change in housing market activity since last year, at least for homes bought with mortgages, which are the majority of the market,’ he added.
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, believes the housing market is resilient with no signs yet of corrections one way or the other but he also thinks that buyers and sellers are getting fed up with the present political turmoil. ‘Certainly we are finding the fear of prolonged uncertainty is outweighing concerns of a no deal Brexit,’ he said.
