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The CML has revealed that even with the credit crunch gross lending in 2007  reached £364bn.

In its yearly report, released yesterday, It stated this equates to almost £1bn per day and was 6% more than the £345bn recorded in 2006.The number of loans for mortgages fell by 10%, the CML says the value of mortgages for house purchase borrowing hit £155bn - This was only 2% lower than the £158bn recorded in 2006.

The amount  of borrowers remortgaging also dropped by 7% although the amount of remortgage loans actually rose by 1% from £128bn to £129bn.

The strongest part of the uk market was the buy-to-let sector which represented 9% of all loans completed.

The number of buy-to-let loans in 2007  rose by 23% during the year to more than 1 million. Secured loans and lifetime mortgages also rose strongly.

At the startof 2008 it says it was anticipating total lending for the year of £340bn, just a little under the total gross lending for 2006. It was also anticipating repossessions to rise quickly, from 27,000 in 2007 to 45,000 for 2008.

The report says “Our members continue to offer enormous potential for people to fulfil their aspirations to home-ownership.

“Despite the abrupt change in market conditions, the reality was that at the end of what proved to be a momentous year, almost 12 million households were successfully using mortgage finance to buy their own home.”