House purchase loans at two year high
The number of loans for house purchase given out in November was at a two year high, according to figures from the British Bankers Association (BBA).
In the BBA's monthly report it was revealed that 44,713 house purchase loans were approved in November, an increase of 152% on the same month of 2008 and a 0.4% increase on November 2007.
Finance company mortgageforce said that a decline in specialist lending was the only barrier to mortgage levels reaching those seen in 2007.
Katie Tucker, technical manager at mortgageforce, said: "The fact that we are so close to 2007's figures is very encouraging. Lenders have got very strong targets for mortgage lending next year, so we can expect the figures to be considerably higher next year as well."
It is expected that the number of house purchases will decrease slightly in the early part of 2010 due to the end of the stamp duty holiday.
Commenting on recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), Paul Samter, an economist at CML, said that seasonal factors were most likely to affect the UK housing market in the near future.
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