November mortgage figures highest in 18 months

Lending activity usually slows down towards the end of the year, so November’s increase of 5% to an estimated £28.5bn, indicates a robust underlying picture. The CML says the strength in lending continues to reflect the recovery in housing market activity over the past year, supported by high levels of remortgaging, while the Bank of England approvals figures show remortgaging activity to have been at record levels in recent months, driven by rising numbers of fixed-rate deals maturing and consumers therefore looking for a new deal. Michael Coogan, director general of CML, says the hous...