UK mortgage lending 'surprisingly strong'

Mortgage lending in the UK jumped by 14% during December as people rushed to buy a home before the British government’s stamp duty holiday ended, figures showed today.

A total of £13.7bn (€15.75bn) was advanced during the month, up from £12.1bn (€13.9bn) in November, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said.

Lending was also 3% higher than it was in December 2008, the first time the annual comparison has been positive since October 2007.

The CML said the figure was “surprisingly strong” for December, when lending is usually down on November’s level as the housing market slows down ahead of Christmas.

It attributed the rise to increased demand as people buying properties costing up to £175,000 (€201,115) rushed to complete their purchases before the threshold at which stamp duty kicks in returned to £125,000 (€143,652) at the beginning of this year.