Mortgage lending up, BTL loans plummet

New figures from UK Finance, the banks' industry body, show that strong remortgaging activity drove lending for home purchases in May. Some 36,000 remortgages were completed in the month, 7.1% up year-on-year. First-time buyer mortgage completions rose by 8.1% to 32,200 compared with May last year, with the total value of lending rising 12.5% to £5.4bn. There were also 31,100 new mortgages completed for homemovers, up 4.4%. Meanwhile lenders issued £700m of buy-to-let mortgages in May, down 22.2% compared with the same month a year earlier. The total number of mortgages issued for BTL properties was 5,500, down 9.8% year-on-year.

The Times (12/07/2018)  City AM (12/07/2018)   The Guardian (12/07/2018)