The number of home buyers taking out mortgages for house purchase slumped to a 16 year low last month, it has been revealed.
Figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) show that just 49,000 home loans were approved during February - down 3.5 per cent compared with February.
The fall is the fourth noted in consecutive months and means that the number of home loans approved in the period has fallen 33 per cent year on year.
Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, attributed the decline to the credit crunch, which has meant that banks are turning away increasing numbers of applicants.
He commented: "The February figures relate to completions of transactions started several months ago.
"More recently, there has been consistent evidence of tightening in lending criteria which will lead to shrinking pipelines of new business as the recent Bank of England's credit condition survey made clear."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment