http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8020201.stm
Mortgage lending by the UK's major banks fell for the first time in four months in March, striking a blow to talk of a housing market recovery.
The number of mortgages approved for house purchases fell to 26,097 in March, down 6.8% from February and 25% lower than a year earlier.
The British Bankers' Association, which produced the figures, said it expected fluctuations during a recession.
Savers were also reluctant to make more deposits with interest rates low.
'Upward trend'
All measures of mortgage lending were slightly weaker in March than in February, with the £8.9bn of gross mortgage lending at its lowest level since April 2001. This was also down 47% on March 2008.
"Consumer confidence is fragile and unlikely to change demand markedly in the near-term," said the BBA's statistics director David Dooks.
"The banks' figures also show it would be unrealistic to expect the mortgage market to recover in a steady and consistent way in the current economic environment."
Mr Dooks told the BBC that the general trend was still upwards, and banks were continuing to lend. But he added that there would be monthly fluctuations in housing market statistics given the economic climate.
People were reluctant to buy a home with property prices still falling and unemployment rising.
"We are not at the bottom of the market for house price falls, we have some way to go," he said.
Positive signs?
Some recent figures and surveys have been read as positive signs for the market. However, many analysts suggest that the mortgage market may have reached the bottom and is now likely to stay there for a while.
Falling house prices and the demand for high deposits from first-time buyers mean that activity is low. The chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said on Friday that the mortgage market remained "highly dysfunctional".
Some mortgage brokers suggest this might still be a good time to study the market.
"The time is ripe for people to start looking for property again to take advantage of low house prices and mortgage rates, but unless you have a substantial deposit this is still proving very difficult," said Andrew Montlake, of mortgage broker Coreco.
Many existing borrowers are also taking advantage of low interest rates and are reverting to the standard variable rate (SVR) when their fixed-rate term comes to an end, rather than remortgaging, the BBA said.
However, with the Bank rate at a historic low of 0.5%, many savers are seeing very low returns on their deposits.
The BBA said that personal deposits rose slightly in February and March, but overall the rise in savings its continued to be "weak" with an annual rate of growth of 2.7%.
The BBA figures cover the major UK banks which provided about two-thirds of outstanding mortgage lending in the UK.
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So much for the green shoots of recovery.......
Mortgage lending by the UK's major banks fell for the first time in four months in March, striking a blow to talk of a housing market recovery.
The number of mortgages approved for house purchases fell to 26,097 in March, down 6.8% from February and 25% lower than a year earlier.
The British Bankers' Association, which produced the figures, said it expected fluctuations during a recession.
Savers were also reluctant to make more deposits with interest rates low.
'Upward trend'
All measures of mortgage lending were slightly weaker in March than in February, with the £8.9bn of gross mortgage lending at its lowest level since April 2001. This was also down 47% on March 2008.
"Consumer confidence is fragile and unlikely to change demand markedly in the near-term," said the BBA's statistics director David Dooks.
"The banks' figures also show it would be unrealistic to expect the mortgage market to recover in a steady and consistent way in the current economic environment."
Mr Dooks told the BBC that the general trend was still upwards, and banks were continuing to lend. But he added that there would be monthly fluctuations in housing market statistics given the economic climate.
People were reluctant to buy a home with property prices still falling and unemployment rising.
"We are not at the bottom of the market for house price falls, we have some way to go," he said.
Positive signs?
Some recent figures and surveys have been read as positive signs for the market. However, many analysts suggest that the mortgage market may have reached the bottom and is now likely to stay there for a while.
Falling house prices and the demand for high deposits from first-time buyers mean that activity is low. The chairman of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said on Friday that the mortgage market remained "highly dysfunctional".
Some mortgage brokers suggest this might still be a good time to study the market.
"The time is ripe for people to start looking for property again to take advantage of low house prices and mortgage rates, but unless you have a substantial deposit this is still proving very difficult," said Andrew Montlake, of mortgage broker Coreco.
Many existing borrowers are also taking advantage of low interest rates and are reverting to the standard variable rate (SVR) when their fixed-rate term comes to an end, rather than remortgaging, the BBA said.
However, with the Bank rate at a historic low of 0.5%, many savers are seeing very low returns on their deposits.
The BBA said that personal deposits rose slightly in February and March, but overall the rise in savings its continued to be "weak" with an annual rate of growth of 2.7%.
The BBA figures cover the major UK banks which provided about two-thirds of outstanding mortgage lending in the UK.
===========================
So much for the green shoots of recovery.......
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