The Guardian has recently reported that mortgage approvals for house prices has risen in March after falling through winter. Bank of England have disclosed that activity is picking up for house mortgages and remortgages.
Bank of England stated that 53,504 mortgage loans were approved during March whereas in February it was at a all time low at 51,947.
Remortgages saw a rise too, as before the recession, remortgaging had become the ‘norm’ to raise equity against the property, but approvals following the recession died down considerably. Recent trends show that it is improving as in March it rose to 30,888 when six month earlier it was only 28,028 being approved.
Although there has been a slight increase mortgage approvals do remain low, ISH Global have commented on the trend, that ‘The Bank of England date tie in with our suspicion that house prices may very well achieve a modest gain of a couple of per cent over 2013 supported by modestly firmer market activity, but it seems unlikely that house prices will make a decisive move upward given the still difficult and uncertain economic environment. Also going as far as saying that ‘period slips in house prices’ seems possible.
Although lenders have introduced help to buy schemes and the Bank of England have extended their Funding For Lending scheme until 2015. Brokers are calling that lenders do more. Mark Harris the Chief Executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Client has commented that lenders need to look to ‘loosen criteria ‘ rather then simply lowering rates recognising that better rates are only still available to individuals who are in a position to put down a higher deposit to purchase.
At EHL we have seen an uptake in activity and can say that our clients, although worried by lending criteria are still getting that necessary approval of their mortgage offers and are able to go ahead and purchase their dream house,
