Mortgage recovery 'will take time'

Date:Thursday 18th February 2010
Author: Susanna Kavka

The recovery of the mortgage lending market will take some time yet, it has been predicted by one expert.

Timothy Lambert, head of consulting at independent property investment firm Ducalian, said that there is still a lot of uncertainty in the market as the economy slowly beings to gain in strength again following one of the worst recessions in decades.

"Mortgage lenders have now been given obligations to lend more, but are also being careful about who they lend to," he said.

However, there are signs that lending is beginning to pick up again, although it will be some time before there will be a return to normal activity as lenders need to grow in confidence about the strength of the economy first, he concluded.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has recently announced that gross mortgage lending fell by 32 per cent between December 2009 and last month, when an estimated £9.1 billion was lent to people looking to take steps onto the property ladder.