Mortgage lending on the rise despite Brexit

George Robbins, our director of financial services comments on the latest Mortgage Lenders and Administrators Statistics from the Bank of England:

“Despite ongoing uncertainty around Brexit, the latest figures reveal that new mortgage lending in Q3 was 4.7% higher than a year ago. This increase will come as a surprise to many, as the housing market was widely expected to stall in the latter part of this year in the wake of the final deal for our departure from the EU being agreed. However, this surge will possibly continue as homebuyers aim to secure their new property and complete a move before Brexit day on 29 March next year.

“Whilst it’s positive that the political uncertainty of the protracted negotiations hasn’t impacted the housing market – and in fact overall gross mortgage lending is at its highest since 2007 – it’s important to note that there is an increase in the proportion of high loan-to-income lending, as well as lending where the loan-to-value exceeds 90%. Lenders need to be exercising caution here and ensuring that they are conducting thorough affordability assessments and that these customers, who would be less cushioned in the event of a downturn, are not overstretching themselves.”