Mortgage lending down in July

The number and value of home loans for both purchase and remortgage fell in July, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has revealed.

Overall there were 94,000 loans for house purchase in July, totalling £14.8 billion, and 92,000 deals for remortgage, with a value of £11.5 billion.

However, the sector of the market not comprised by house purchase and remortgaging – primarily further advances and buy-to-let – reached its highest ever value in July.

The £7.8 billion value of this sector of the industry accounted for 23 per cent of the total amount of lending.

Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, said: "A slight fall in lending between June and July has emerged for the third year in a row, so of course we cannot read too much into a single month's figures.

"But the long-anticipated slowdown in the housing and mortgage markets may now be beginning to materialise."

The CML figures revealed that, in the first-time buyer market, the number of mortgages fell by seven per cent between June and July, while the value of loans dropped by four per cent.

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