Mortgage Lending in April hits 17.8 billion

Mortgage lending statistics from the the British Bankers' Association says gross mortgage lending hit £17.8bn in April. While this was up on the £16.6bn in gross mortgage lending seen in March, it was down 7.7% on the amount of lending completed in April 2007.

High street lending in April reached £5.4bn, up from March which recorded £5.2bn. These mortgage lending statistics while being down show that demand is strong for mortgages.

Approvals for remortgaging meanwhile reached 74,722 in April, up 14,312 on March, and up 20.3 % on 2007. Approvals for equity withdrawal and other purposes continued at a relatively low level.

Remortgaging and prime customers are now the dominate force in the mortgage market with the decline in home movers and first-time buyers. The survey reveals home mover mortgage business has contracted from 23% to 20% over the last two months. Though first-time buyer loans are up by 1% for the same period, brokers and lenders are forecasting a downturn across both sectors.