This is almost identical to January’s gross lending total of £10.65bn and 14% higher than February last year at £9.4bn.
CML chief economist Bob Pannell said: “Although a seasonal decline is expected over the winter months, our forward estimates suggest that February was the seventh month in a row of higher year-on-year lending. This indicates that lending for house purchase remains brisk in advance of the end of the Stamp Duty concession.
“The launch of the NewBuy scheme is an important addition to lenders’ toolkit in addressing the various needs of would-be borrowers. The scheme has the potential to offset the dip in first-time buyer activity that the end of the Stamp Duty concession on 24 March may produce.”
Ex-CML director general, Michael Coogan, now strategic adviser at Deloitte, said the mortgage figures in Q1 2012 have been buoyed in advance of the removal of the Stamp Duty exemption.
He said: “The eyes of the mortgage industry will be on whether the Budget contains measures to maintain this stimulus, and support the government’s housing strategy to increase new house building and transaction numbers through the rest of the year.”
