The figure is the highest record for the month of April since 2008 when mortgage lending reached £26.8bn. However, lending dropped by 29% compared to the March total of £26.2bn, but is 16% higher than the £16bn lent in April last year.
The CML reported earlier this week that March saw triple-digit year-on-year growth in buy to let, which was not repeated in April’s figures.
CML economist Mohammad Jamei said: “As we move past the Stamp Duty change that came into effect at the start of April, we expect to see a quieter second quarter, as some transactions that were due to take place were brought forward to the first quarter of this year. This is likely to mean that over the next few months buy-to-let takes a back seat as lending is driven by first-time buyers, movers and remortgage customers.
“The underlying picture still shows signs of growth, as the market remains underpinned by strong fundamentals such as increasing wages and rising employment. But it is possible that the uncertainty around the upcoming EU referendum in June will weigh on activity in the upcoming months.”
The MPC unanimously voted to keep interest rates at 0.5% in April and financial market expectations have pushed the next bank base rate rise as far out as 2019.
‘To put this into perspective, expectations at the end of 2015 were for the first rate rise to occur at the end of 2016,” said the CML.
