Gross lending for Q3 2013 was an estimated £49.3bn, a 17.6% increase on Q2, and a massive 32% increase on the third quarter of last year.
Overall, these figures add up to the highest lending amount quarter-by-quarter since Q3 of '08, according to a recent report from the CML. They confirm that house purchase volumes are now at a massive 90,000 a month.
Their chief economist, Bob Pannell, said "Indicators suggest that we are witnessing the strongest house purchase performance in five years. House prices, too, have revived, but modestly aside from a resurgent London market. With the Help to Buy mortgage guarantee scheme becoming fully operational in January, and firms implementing the mortgage market review in April 2014, it may be several months into 2014 before we get a true gauge of the scale and reach of Help to Buy".
Mortgage applications are up, as are activity levels, but these always take a while to have a knock-on effect onto the housing market. Now, therefore, is a good time for the shrewd property purchaser to secure that ideal home before somebody else does.
It is still very early days in the scheme, but access to 95% mortgages will play into the hands of first-time sellers, as well as first time buyers, and encourage greater movement in the market.
