First-time buyers, home movers, home-owner re-mortgages and buy-to-let mortgages all saw a monthly decline in lending in August but an uptick (significantly for buy-to-let) compared to August 2014, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

However, CML reports that this is a normal seasonal trend, with August typically less strong for mortgage completions, and the underlying picture is of improvement in lending levels on a year-by-year basis.  

House purchase lending in the UK saw a month-on-month decline by volume and by value for the first time since April. However, August lending for house purchase was the highest level for the month of August since August 2007, but still only 60% of what they were in August 2007. UK gross lending in August totalled £19.7bn, down 9% on July but up 10.7% on August last year.  

Buy-to-let lending for house purchase has showed stronger year-on-year growth than home-owner loans. However, while loans to home-owners for house purchase declined by 50% in volume terms from 2007 to 2009, buy-to-let loans for house purchase declined 71% in the same period. Buy-to-let continues to represent 17% of gross lending in August, a proportion that has remained relatively consistent since the beginning of the year.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-weight: normal; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">First-time buyers, home movers, home-owner re-mortgages and buy-to-let mortgages all saw a monthly decline in lending in August but an uptick (significantly for buy-to-let) compared to August 2014, according to the latest figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

span style="font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: .15pt;"> 

span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">However, CML reports that this is a normal seasonal trend, with August typically less strong for mortgage completions, and the underlying picture is of improvement in lending levels on a year-by-year basis.  

span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">House purchase lending in the UK saw a month-on-month decline by volume and by value for the first time since April. However, August lending for house purchase was the highest level for the month of August since August 2007, but still only 60% of what they were in August 2007. UK gross lending in August totalled £19.7bn, down 9% on July but up 10.7% on August last year.  

span style="font-size: 12.0pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Buy-to-let lending for house purchase has showed stronger year-on-year growth than home-owner loans. However, while loans to home-owners for house purchase declined by 50% in volume terms from 2007 to 2009, buy-to-let loans for house purchase declined 71% in the same period. Buy-to-let continues to represent 17% of gross lending in August, a proportion that has remained relatively consistent since the beginning of the year.