Mortgage lending up 24% in March
A spring boost for the housing market saw mortgage lending surge by nearly a quarter in March to £11.5 billion, new figures show.
According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), gross mortgage lending increased 24% from February and 3% year-on-year.
However, the growth for the second month in a row failed to offset January's massive 49% slump and lending for the first quarter of 2010 reached the lowest level in 10 years.
Loan advances during the first three months of the year were at £29.5 billion - recording a quarterly fall of nearly 25%.
January's slide was in part due to the end of the Government's stamp-duty holiday for properties costing up to £175,000, as buyers rushed to complete purchases in December before the threshold fell back to £125,000.
The CML said underlying levels of mortgage lending and housing market activity remained stable, but were "quiet and subdued" when the seasonal spring uplift was stripped out.
If predicted that market conditions were likely to improve later in the year, with the Budget stamp-duty boost for first-time buyers kicking in and as the economic recovery and low interest-rate environment helped homeowners.
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