Mortgage shortage 'still affecting UK'

Date:Thursday 2nd July 2009
Author: Max Freedman

The UK is still suffering from a lack of available mortgages, according to the communications manager at the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

Commenting on the issue, Bernard Clarke said that while the country may be "past the worst" in terms of lending conditions, it would be unrealistic to suggest that it has reached a "turning point".

The expert made his comments in the wake of figures produced by the Bank of England, which suggested that a total of 43,414 new home loans were approved in May this year.

This represents an increase compared with April's total of 43,191, as well as the 40,145 mortgages approved in March.

Mr Clarke stated: "We probably will see some volatility in figures from month to month. That is a pattern that you might expect in these circumstances - monthly fluctuations - and we have always warned about reading too much into one month's figures."