April was likely to have been one of the strongest months for lending activity since late 2008, the Council of Mortgage Lenders has revealed.
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.”
