Bob Pannell, chief economist of the CML, said comparisons with April last year – a 21 per cent increase – were difficult to make as a year ago there was a temporary dearth of house buying activity immediately following the end of the stamp duty concession.
He said: “The true underlying position is that April is likely to have been one of the strongest months for lending activity since late 2008, but not as strong as the year-earlier comparison suggests.
“Gross lending on a seasonally adjusted basis has been running comfortably above £12 billion for several months, but this is still barely half the average level of lending seen in 2003 to 2004.”
