Lending volumes ‘will continue to fall’

The scale of lending volumes within the UK’s housing sector will continue to fall, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

In response to the Bank of England’s latest figures on consumer borrowing, the CML suggested that activity will continue to be constrained as the credit crunch goes on.

The council also maintained that the recent special liquidity scheme introduced by the Bank of England will take a number of months to have an impact on mortgage affordability and debt management for homeowners around the country.

“We hope that some of the liquidity will be recycled down into the mortgage market,” said the CML’s director general Michael Coogan.

“But it will take some months for this to happen and mortgage lending volumes are going to continue to fall before they improve,” he added.

Including mortgage arrears, the typical British household has a debt management burden worth more than £57,000, according to data from Credit Action.