Islamic mortgages moving into mainstream lending

Datamonitor says as more lenders are realising the untapped potential of the Islamic market gross advances for house purchase could rise to £1.4bn by 2009. It says the removal of double Stamp Duty on Shariah mortgages which had previously made them too expensive, has been partly responsible for mainstream lenders, such as HSBC and Lloyds TSB, coming into the market. The report also claims this demonstrates belief in its growth potential and while still in its infancy Datamonitor predicts the market will continue to expand rapidly claiming it has seen growth of 68% every year since 200...