CML announces strong July lending

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has announced that it has recorded the strongest ever lending for the month of July this year, with £30.4 billion of loans going out.

This is the second highest figure on record for the CML, behind June of this year when £32.4 billion of lending – six per cent higher than July – took place.

From July 2005, when £25.5 billion worth of lending was recorded, a 19 per cent increase was measured two months ago.

Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, said: “Another month, another record lending figure. Seasonal factors are continuing to support housing transactions and buoy house price growth.

“Bank of England approvals data shows that there is a strong appetite among borrowers for remortgages and other types of loan.”

Something that was not reflected in the figures, however, is the effect of the recent interest rate rise, which the CML says “caught some people by surprise”.

Based on the expectation that another increase in interest could come before the end of the year, the CML is expecting lending to be slightly more subdued over the coming months.