Mortgage lending shows 'material' growth in July

The number of loans taken out by house purchasers was 19% higher than the year before at 56,000, showing the first "material annual growth" since early 2007 when the property boom began to stall. The value of house purchase loans, excluding remortgage loans, was also up, climbing 6% to £7.5bn. But the CML was cautious about reading too much into the figures. "It's tempting to call the turn in the mortgage market at this point, and there is certainly concrete evidence that lending for house purchase is increasing," says CML economist Paul Samter. "But there are still constraints ...