Property powers lending to all-time high

Posted: 20 Dec 2006 10:33:42 GMT

Gross lending in November hit an all-time high of £33.1 billion Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures have shown, powered by the property market

Gross lending in November hit an all-time high of £33.1 billion Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) figures have shown, powered by the property market.

The overall figure was nine per cent up on the October high of £30.5 billion and 19 per cent higher than overall lending in November last year, said CML.

It was also 0.2 per cent up on the previous all-time high of £33 billion set in August.

Most of the gains were due to the seemingly unstoppable rate of house price increases, which rose to an annualised rate of nearly ten per cent in the final quarter of 2006.

"The housing market is undoubtedly in robust shape as we move towards the new year," said head of the CML Michael Coogan.

"Not only is today's lending figure the highest ever, our recently published forecasts suggests lending will beat our previous predictions for the coming two years."

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