Home-owner house purchase lending down 40 per cent in April - CML

They took out 47,300 loans, down 31 per cent on March and 5 per cent on April 2015, the CML said.

First-time buyers borrowed £3.9bn, down 11 per cent on March but up 15 per cent on April last year.

This equated to 25,100 loans, down 9 per cent month-on-month but up 7 per cent year-on-year.

Home movers borrowed £4.3bn, down 53 per cent on March and 14 per cent compared to a year ago. This represented 22,200 loans, down 46 per cent month-on-month and 15 per cent on April 2015.

Remortgage activity totalled £6bn, up 25 per cent on March and 40 per cent compared to a year ago. This came to 34,800 loans, up 23 per cent month-on-month and 30 per cent compared to a year ago.

Landlords borrowed £2.5bn, down 65 per cent month-on-month and 7 per cent year-on-year. This came to 16,100 loans in total, down 64 per cent compared to March and down 10 per cent compared to April 2015.

Paul Smee, director general of the CML, said: “There is a sense of calm after the storm this month, as lending eased back, following the significant rises in activity in March as borrowers looked to beat the second property stamp duty deadline. We expect the market to take several months to return to its previous levels after the lending surge.”