News
Scotland sees 16-year low in housing loans
Loans for house purchase in Scotland fell to a 16-year low in 2009, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
The 47,000 loans advanced in 2009 represented a 23% decrease from 2008, despite a late rally in the fourth quarter, when 14,200 house purchase loans were issued.
The number of first-time buyers in the Scottish market has remained constant at 5400 in the final quarter of 2010, but the value of the actual lending rose by £5m.
Growth north of the border is currently slower than in the UK as a whole, at 4% compared to 9%.
CML Scotland policy consultant Kennedy Foster said: “We do not anticipate an increase in lending activity immediately. Funding conditions remain challenging, economic recovery is fragile both in Scotland and in the UK as a whole, and with little likelihood of interest rates rising this side of an election, many on low variable rates have little incentive to remortgage.
“However, the situation is much improved on a year ago, and a gradual improvement in market conditions and the wider economy should support a modest increase in activity later in the year.”
The growth of ‘just-off-high-street’ lending
Sponsored by Pepper Money