FTBs helping drive confidence in housing market says A&L

The lender says the percentage of households which say they are thinking about moving, buying a property for the first time or remortgaging before the end of the year has double since January from 7% to 15% now. While not everyone acts on such intentions A&L argues the fact many more people are considering taking out a mortgage now than in January illustrates greater confidence in the housing market and helps to explain higher activity levels. The first four months of 2006 saw mortgage lending increase 28.4% on the same period last year despite a slight drop in lending in April. A&L als...