Council of Mortgage Lenders says the Olympics is partly to blame for decline, but housing experts point to a deeper malaise in the housing market

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Slowing demand for homes and subdued remortgaging activity led to a 10% dive in mortgage lending in September, according to figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). The fall came despite a greater number of mortgages being available to potential homebuyers.

A total of £11.6bn was loaned to homebuyers and remortgagors over the month, a 10% drop from the £12.9bn advanced in August and a 15% fall compared to September 2011.

CML chief economist, Bob Pannell, partly blamed the Olympics. "There have been hints of demand softening over recent months, but monthly patterns may have been distorted by the Olympics," he said.

"House purchase demand failed to lift significantly in the third quarter, despite much better mortgage availability. Remortgage activity continued to languish, in contrast to relatively strong levels a year ago."

Housing experts said the figures were further evidence of a stuttering market. Hugh Wade-Jones, director of mortgage broker Enness Private Clients, said: "It's a depressing double act – the housing market is still soporific and mortgage lending is going back into hibernation. Total lending in September fell to the lowest level since April's atrociously low numbers.

"Such underwhelming performance cannot be explained away by one-off mitigating factors like post-Olympic gloom. The fact is that demand is still weak and the industry's appetite to lend is patchy."

The government's Funding for Lending scheme, designed to encourage banks and building societies to offer more loans, has had little effect on the housing market as the high cost of underwriting loans is still forcing lenders to charge prohibitively high rates of interest to borrowers with small deposits.

Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, said: "The mortgage market is at a low ebb. High loan-to-value lending accounted for less than one in 10 of all house purchase loans in September. Funding for Lending has yet to jump-start first-time buyer lending – historically the beating heart of the housing market."