CML response to February mortgage approvals data
30 Mar 09
Responding to the Bank of England's February mortgage approvals figures, CML economist Paul Samter said:
"February’s approvals for house purchase - 38,000 on a seasonally adjusted basis - were nearly a fifth higher than in January and marked the first material improvement in approvals since mid-2008.
"This is welcome news, but we will need to see a few more months’ figures before we can say with any confidence that market conditions are showing a fundamental improvement. Transactions remain historically very weak, and this makes it harder than usual to adjust the figures for the normal upturn that happens in the spring."
Notes to editors
1. The Council of Mortgage Lenders' members are banks, building societies and other lenders who together undertake around 98% of all residential mortgage lending in the UK. There are 11.7 million mortgages in the UK, with loans worth over £1.2 trillion.
2. The Bank of England lending to individuals data for February is here.
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