High street bank mortgage lending "has stabilised"

Date:Thursday 24th September 2009
Author: Susanna Kavka

Mortgage lending from the main high street banks "has stabilised", one industry commentator has asserted.

David Dooks, statistics director at the British Bankers' Association (BBA), made his comments after the organisation published its lending figures for August.

The body noted that the net change in mortgage lending last month was +£2.8 billion.

According to the BBA, this was a return to trend after lending fell in July.

Mr Dooks said that loans approved for the purchase of houses have returned to the level they were at in the early part of last year.

He also suggested that consumers seem to be building up savings and keeping an eye on their appetite for unsecured borrowing in response to the current economic climate.

"The main high street banks' mortgage lending has stabilised in a market where other lenders are largely inactive," Mr Dooks concluded.

Commenting on the BBA figures, Brigid O'Leary, senior economist with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, said that the "main obstacle" faced by first-time buyers appears to be the "limited availability" of mortgage finance.