lending

CHL Mortgages has announced it is to make 20% of its staff redundant due to a changed focus on credit quality and margins.

Growth in net lending secured on property has fallen in August compared with July and is also down on the previous six-month average, according to the Bank of England.

Gross mortgage lending fell between July and August, indicating the problems in credit markets are affecting mortgage lenders, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

House price growth has turned negative in August, with a sharp fall in demand, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

House prices are set to grow modestly in the coming months and the interest rate cycle will reach its peak by the end of 2007, according to members of the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association (IMLA).

Mortgage lending has remained robust despite rising interest rates and the prospect of a further rate rise before the end of the year, according to the British Bankers Association (BBA).

Gross mortgage lending has reached a new record for the month of July but falls slightly behind June, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

House price growth in July fell below 10% for the first time since March 2007, according to Nationwide's latest House Price Report.

Interest rate rises caught the UK's fifth largest mortgage lender, Northern Rock, on the back foot and profits have suffered as a result.

Building societies have been hit hard by recent interest rate rises and have seen a decline in lending in June 2007 compared with the same period last year, according to the British Association of Estate Agents.