Confidence returning to mortgage market, says moneysupermarket.com

Date:Wednesday 21st October 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

Search statistics suggest that consumers are finding their appetite for mortgages again, according to moneysupermarket.com.

Hannah-Mercedes Skenfield, mortgages manager at the comparison website, noted that the proportion of customers using the service to find a house purchase mortgage has increased to 45.84 per cent.

This is the highest percentage of the year and a 22 per cent increase on January figures.

Ms Skenfield made her comments following the release of September lending figures by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

She said: "Data from moneysupermarket.com backs up the CML's figures, providing fresh evidence that appetite in the housing market is slowly returning."

While the number of remortgage searches is 19 per cent lower than in January of this year, there was a slight increase in interest in September which could be due to high-profile mortgage releases by HSBC and Woolwich, suggested Ms Skenfield.

The CML reported a two per cent increase in gross mortgage lending for September compared to August, estimating the total to be £12.5 billion.