Gross mortgage lending receded in April after the stamp duty-beating rush in March, which saw lending surge to £26.2bn as buy-to-let purchasers scrambled to beat the tax hike that came in on 1 April.
Overall mortgage lending is estimated to have dipped by almost one-third in April to £18.5bn, although this remains well up on the £16bn lent in April 2015. The data from the Council of Mortgage lenders tallies with house price data from lender Halifax that indicated a cooling of prices in April and sets the scene for a somewhat more becalmed period for the housing market, with uncertainty around the forthcoming Brexit vote also expected to suppress demand. Notably, remortgaging activity mitigated some of the drop away from buy-to-let demand in April as borrowers took advantage of ongoing low interest rates to lock in new deals.
