Mortgage lending up by 10%

Gross mortgage lending hit £10.5bn in January, up 10 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Lending fell by 14 per cent from £12.2bn from December but was still substantially up on figures from January 2011.

CML chief economist Bob Pannell said he believed the market was being driving by first-time buyers seeking to complete deals before the stamp duty concession ends in March.

“Should inflationary pressures continue to fall back, the squeeze on household finances should ease progressively and help support stronger economic recovery going into the second half of the year. This can only be good news for the housing market further down the track,” he said.

The stamp duty rate of one per cent for first-time buyers who purchase properties worth between between £125,000 and £250,000 will be reintroduced next month.