Encouraging mortgage lending trends expected to continue into 2016

Commenting on the CML lending figures for January, Charles Haresnape, group managing director for mortgages at Aldermore, said:

“Data released today shows that the overall level of activity in the housing market ended 2015 stronger than when it started, and with gross mortgage lending levels up 21% year-on-year and the annual arrears rate at its lowest for more than a decade, we expect to see these encouraging trends to continue into 2016.

“A positive aspect to highlight is the broad-based spread of the data, with first-time buyers, movers and remortgage customers all seeing strong year-on-year growth. With the Government’s plans for 400,000 new affordable homes and proposals to streamline planning approvals for developers, we hope to see a rise in construction levels over the coming years that should help to ease the supply pressures currently present in the market, leading to a more sustainable level of property price increases.”