The number of mortgage approvals in the UK for July 2011 indicated a renewed interest in the real estate market.
While mortgage lending in August rose six percent, experts believe this was due to mortgage providers such as the Post Office and Nationwide cutting rates on a range of fixed rate deals.
“These figures merely reflect a concerted effort from lenders to meet their lending targets, little more,” noted Richard Sexton, Business Development Director of e.surv.
According to the British Bankers Association (BBA), reports for August suggest that mortgage activity in the UK may have been stimulated by growth in the buy-to-let market, as rental yields continue to improve.
However, September figures showed that mortgage approvals dropped for the first time in six months, with only 50,967 loans approved, down from 52,347 approvals in August this year.
“September’s lending figures confirm that constraints on the supply of credit are still acting as a major brake on the economic recovery,” said Samuel Tombs from Capital Economics.
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