Remortgage approvals rose by 27% year-on-year to 39,629 agreed transactions in October worth £6.8bn. Compared to the previous month’s approvals, house purchases rose by 0.9% while remortgaging dropped by 3.3%.
Both categories of lending exceeded their six-monthly averages of 68,099 for house purchases and 38,430 for remortgages.
Approvals for other purposes were 12,178 compared to an average of 11,297 over the previous six months.
Total secured lending increased by £3.6bn in October to hit £20.1bn. This compares to the average monthly increase of £2.8bn. Repayments in October were £17bn.
The Council of Mortgage Lenders has predicted that gross mortgage lending for 2015 will be £209bn and will increase to £220bn by 2016 year-end.
Peter Rollings, CEO of Marsh & Parsons, said Osborne’s plans to add a Stamp Duty premium of 3% to second homes and buy-to-let properties will create in a stir in the market in the months to come.
“These figures only look at October, George Osborne’s package of housing announcements in the Autumn Statement last week will have keyed up a new wave of first-time buyers eager to get their foot in the door,” said Rollings. “We may also see a winter flurry of buy-to-let borrowing before April’s Stamp Duty shake-up, as landlords seek to invest before the additional charge is levied on second homes.
“The big question as we enter the New Year is whether the supply of homes will match the increasing demand that’s clearly evident in the mortgage market.”
