Record mortgage lending

Gross lending hit an all-time January high of £26.8 billion according to the latest data from the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

The CML said that while the figure was down by 6% on the £28.5 billion lent in December, it is up by 16% on January 2006 (£23 billion).

Commenting on the data, CML director general Michael Coogan said: “Mortgage lending kicked-off 2007 in robust shape, and we expect this strength to continue over the next few months. Quite how strong it will be later in the year depends on what happens to interest rates.

While we avoided a rate rise earlier this month, the markets are still expecting at least one more quarter point rise by the middle of the year. And, because of this uncertainty, it would be surprising if some home buyers did not review the timing of their decision to move”.