UK mortgage lending hits May record

Mortgage lending in the UK picked up last month as stronger demand led to a new May record, figures indicated today.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said gross lending hit £30.6bn (€45bn), up 12% on April and higher than the £29bn (€43bn) recorded a year ago.

But annual growth of 5% in May was down on the previous four months, during which banks and building societies were seeing year-on-year increases in mortgage lending of 12% to 15%.