Savills claims mortgage rules are dampening London transactions
NEW GOVERNMENT data show the London home sales trailing the rest of the country.
The capital saw the smallest uplift in transaction volumes last year, compared to other regions of the UK, according to new figures published by HMRC yesterday.
The number of transactions in London went up from 145,000 in 2013 to 155,000 in 2014, an increase of seven per cent, while nationally total volumes rose from 1.08m in 2013 to 1.22m in 2014, an uptick of 13 per cent.
Northern Ireland, the north-west and the West Midlands proved to be the regions with the biggest change in transaction volumes, with 21 per cent, 18 per cent and 16 per cent increases, respectively.
Lucian Cook, head of UK residential research at Savills, said that the slow growth in London suggested “that the impact of the mortgage market review has really begun to restrict mortgage accessibility.”
The City regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), introduced the mortage market review (MMR) last year. The new rules tightened requirements for mortgage providers, prompted by the regulator’s belief that lenders had made it too easy to get a mortgage before the financial crisis.