Thrifty Loans

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has recently released data showing that there was an increase in mortgage lending in Scotland in the third quarter compared to the previous one, although year on year lending is still down. The data showed that in the third quarter of this year mortgage lending in Scotland increased by 8 percent compared to the second quarter, although year on year lending was down by 7.5 percent.

On a UK wide basis, the level of mortgage lending in the third quarter increased by 16 percent compared to the second quarter. Lending is said to have increased to first time buyers and house movers as well as to those looking to remortgage. For first time buyers lending levels increased by 7 percent, which reflected an increase of 4600 and resulted in an increase of 10 percent in terms of value compared to the second quarter.

Over recent years lenders have been demanding higher deposits from first time buyers, which has hampered their ability to purchase their own home. Whilst there has not been any huge improvement here, figures showed that in the third quarter first time buyers were borrowing 80 percent of the property value rather than 79 percent, which was a very slight improvement.

An official from the Council of Mortgage Lenders stated: “The mortgage market in Scotland is currently stable albeit at a low level. We anticipate growth is likely to remain slow going forward, although welcome developments, such as smaller deposits, have emerged and a Scottish mortgage indemnity scheme for new build properties is being introduced. The uncertain economic outlook and low levels of consumer confidence will likely result in a continuing constrained mortgage market in Scotland as in the UK in general.”

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