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Mortgage lending jumps in March

Mortgage lending rose dramatically in March as first time buyers took advantage of the stamp duty holiday, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

51,200 new mortgages were granted to home buyers, an increase of 445 on February and 31% higher than March 2011. New loans also rose by 74% from February to 24,000.

However, this is likely to be a one-off event, and lending is likely to fall back again.

Commenting on the figures, Council of Mortgage Director General Paul Smee said: “If lending follows the same pattern as after previous stamp duty concessions, we will likely see a drop in activity in the next few months.

The stamp duty holiday allowed first time buyers to purchase homes without paying 1% stamp duty as long as the properties were worth less than £250,000.

The scheme was introduced by the labour government, but the Coalition made the decision to end the project as it failed to make much difference to the ability or willingness of buyers to purchase a property.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .