October lending shows resilience

Although the figure is down from £27.7bn in September, it is still one of the highest monthly lending figures on record, and 16% higher than the £23.2bn of lending in the same month last year. The CML says while it would normally expect lending activity to slow down at this time of year, the modest decline in October lending suggests the market is in good form. It predicts figures released by the Bank of England later this month will probably show lending on a seasonally adjusted basis is close to the peak levels of 2003. Commenting on today’s figures, Michael Coogan, CML director general...