Mortgage lending remains strong but shows signs of easing, says the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Gross lending reached a new May record of £30.6 billion, according to data from CML. The figure is up by 12% on April's lending total of £27.4 billion and is 5% higher than the same month in 2006 (£29 billion). However, the rate of year-on-year growth is not as high as we have seen in the first four months of the year - typically around 12-15%.
CML Director General Michael Coogan said: "While today's lending figure is a new record for the month of May, it does indicate that the market is slowing down following the rapid and sustained growth we saw last year. Going forward we expect lending to ease as we progress through the year, but the market will remain in good shape. Although further interest rate rises will continue to dampen demand, we are still on course to meet our prediction of a record £360 billion of lending during 2007."
