CML

The Council of Mortgage Lenders has appointed Paul Smee as its incoming director-general, starting on 1 August.

Colin Walsh, chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), is set to leave the organisation.

The 8.1% increase in house prices in the first half of 2011 will largely reverse in the next six months, as oversupply of property runs up against lack of funding, according to Rightmove.

Gross mortgage lending in March was an estimated £11.3bn, a 21% rise from £9.3bn in February, according to CML data.

The housing trade bodies have given their response to the key announcements outlined by the Chancellor George Osborne in the Budget today.

House purchase lending fell 26% in January to £4.2bn, as an "unusual combination of factors" drove buyers from the market, according to the CML.

Michael Coogan, director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, has announced that he will be stepping down from his role in August.

Gross mortgage lending fell 13% to an estimated £9.2bn in January from £10.6bn in December, as the market shows little signs of rebounding, according to the CML.

The typical deposit needed by first-time buyers to secure a property has almost trebled in the last three years and now tops £31,000, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Unhelpful commentary and "assumptions" about the FSA's proposals for the mortgage market are proving a "distraction" and impeding the debate, the FSA says.