Data has revealed that while building societies lending has stayed fairly stable in the first half of this year, an analysis of the intermediary market has painted a completely different picture.
Equifax Touchstone’s analysis of the intermediary marketplace showed July bucked the trend for a traditional summer slowdown in mortgage activity, with total lending of £16.4bn compared to £12.5bn in July 2014.
While the month-on-month growth was low at 0.17 per cent, it outpaced the -3.4 per cent contraction witnessed at the same time last year.
Buy-to-let lending for the month was up by 42.5 per cent year-on-year, hitting £3.9bn, while residential mortgage lending for the month was £12.6bn, a 28.3 per cent increase on July 2014. Overall lending levels are up by 31.3 per cent.
The market intelligence firm’s data covers 92 per cent of the intermediated lending market and showed that the average value of a residential mortgage in July was £186,440 - up from £174,148 last July - and £160,234 for buy-to-let - rising from £147,059.
Iain Hill, relationship manager at Equifax Touchstone, commented: “We should not be disappointed by the relatively low increase month-on-month; it’s positive to see growth during the traditionally quiet summer months and the continued buoyancy in the market gives a great base to build on as the year progresses.”
Meanwhile, data from the Building Societies Association has shown that building societies approved 189,000 mortgages in the first half of this year, accounting for 29 per cent of the total market.
This is fairly stable with last year’s figure of 187,019, which gave societies a 29 per cent market share of the 655,700 total approvals across market.
Societies also lent £26.4bn of gross new mortgages compared to £24.6bn last year. This gave building societies a market share of 28 per cent of the £88.8bn lent across the market.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, said that whilst support to first-time buyers and aspiring home owners remains “strong”, the building society sector continues to service the whole spectrum of borrowers, including people requiring a mortgage that lasts into retirement.
“The sector continues to provide innovative products helping to encourage diversity and ensure a wide range of borrowers’ needs are served.”
peter.walker@ft.com
