Gross mortgage lending hits £18.9bn in January as consumer credit also rises

The total was 6 per cent lower than December’s of £20 billion, but 2 per cent higher than the £18.6 billion lent in January last year and was the highest lending total for a January since 2008 (£25.2 billion).

Commenting on market conditions in this month’s market commentary, CML economist Mohammad Jamei said: “Overall mortgage lending continues to hold up pretty well, but we seem to have a twin-track market. Weakness in buy-to-let and home movers has been offset by an increase in first-time buyers and remortgage lending.

“A continuing acute shortage of homes being offered for sale is one aspect of a broken housing market, that looks unlikely to resolve in the near term.”

Meanwhile, latest figures from the British Bankers Association have revealed that consumer borrowing through overdrafts, loans and credit cards grew at an annual rate of 6.7 per cent during the first month of the year.

The growth in consumer credit comes despite weaker retail sales and growth continues to be primarily driven by personal loans as credit card growth slowed for the third consecutive month, the BBA said.

Personal deposits annual growth slowed slightly in January to 4 per cent.

Non-financial companies deposits grew at an average annual rate of over 8 per cent in 2015 but fell back in 2016 to an average annual rate of 5 per cent and are currently growing at an annual rate of 3 per cent.