Mortgage lending expected to cool

Banks expect mortgage lending to ease off in the coming months as a result of the tapering of the stamp duty holiday. “Demand for secured lending for house purchases was expected to decrease over the next quarter,” the Bank of England said. Robert Payne, co-founder of Bristol-based Langley House Mortgages, said: "The housing market has boomed this year and we have submitted more mortgage applications than ever before but there is a huge amount of uncertainty in the economy and people need to be vigilant in terms of what they should borrow.” Ashley Thomas, director of London-based mortgage broker, Magni Finance, commented: "With the main Stamp Duty relief now over, demand has certainly reduced and is likely to cool in the months ahead.” Meanwhile, UK banks expect defaults to rise over the coming months as households struggle to service debt taken on to cope with the financial pressures of the coronavirus crisis, new figures reveal. 

City AM (15/07/2021)