Following a decline in April, mortgage lending in the UK rose by 24 percent to £12.2 billion (S$24.35 billion) in May, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
At the same time, the UK’s customs and tax department also reported that sales of completed homes climbed to 71,000 from 64,000 in April.
Higher figures for the month followed a slump in the property sector in April right after the one percent stamp duty for home purchases by first-time buyers was reintroduced on 24 March.
CML expects more fluctuations in lending this year.
“Mortgage lending continues to seesaw, albeit against a broadly flat market,” said Bob Pannell, Chief Economist at CML.
“A number of one-off factors, such as the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, are set to distort market indicators over the coming months,” added Pannell.
Mark Harris, Chief Executive of Mortgage Broker SPF Private Clients, said: “May’s uplift in lending is hugely encouraging given everything else that is going on at the moment with the Eurozone crisis and a number of lenders reining back on their lending in response to this.”
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