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The Council of Mortgage lenders has showed that 11,400 mortgages were taken out in Scotland in the second quarter of this year.

Thats a 50% rise from the 7,600 recorded in the previous quarter, but almost 40% below the same time in 2008.

The rise in mortgage lending in Scotland was an even split across the board of first-time buyers and home movers.

4,300 mortages went  to first-time buyers and 7,200 to movers.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders said Scotland was similar to that in the rest of the UK although mortgages were slightly more affordable because house prices were lower lower.

But there was further evidence that lending remained exceedingly tight.

First-time buyers typically put down a 25% deposit in the second quarter, unchanged from the previous quarter but up from 13% a year earlier.

FTB’s borrowed on average 2.85 x their income.

Home movers borrowed 2.55 x their income (2.73 across the UK).

Interest payments typically consumed 11.1% of Scottish home movers’ income (compared with 11.3% across the UK), the lowest share since the second quarter of 2004.

A spokesman for the Council of Mortgage Lenders in Scotland said the figures showed that lending in the mortgage market was beginning to stabilise which was encouraging.

Kennedy Foster also warned: “It will be a slow path to full recovery with significant obstacles presented by the restricted access to mortgage funding, fewer active mortgage lenders in the market, rising unemployment and limited consumer demand”.

Latest information from uSwitch.com shows that 1 in 5 people  think the housing market will bounce back by the end of this year. However neary 50% think it will take until the end of 2010.

According to the research, 6 million (13%) consumers predict that that the UK economy will emerge from recession before the end of 2009. A further 12% think it will be finished by March 2010 acording to the research from uSwitch.com.

Slightly less optimistic about the labour market, one in four predict a recovery as early as December 2010 but 11.5 million consumers (24%) forecast unemployment will exceed 10% during current recession

Reports examining unemployment trends from previous recessions reveal that unemployment historically continues to rise long after other indicators have stabilised. This has resulted in some areas of the UK taking as long as a decade, to see a recovery in their regional labour markets, and people becoming permanently excluded from the jobs market.

New information from the Bank of England states that 80% of mortgage applications are being approved, representing a 10% increase on the start of the year. 

The lending report from the Bank covers lending data from Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide and RBS. The funny thing is that I spoke with a bank manager last week from another lender who told me only 60 % of their applications were being approved.

According to the lenders the proportion of mortgages being approved has gone from around 70% in January to around 80% in July.

But the Bank also cites data from Moneyfacts which says that the number of available mortgages at over 90% LTV has stayed virtually flat after increases in May and June.

The lenders have admitted to the Bank that over the last month their appetite to lend at higher LTVs has not increased.

Net mortgage lending advances from the major lenders fell from £1.9bn in June to £1.5bn in July.

Gross mortgage lending flows increased in July with gross lending rising from £9bn to £9.5bn but the Bank says this rise was outweighed by an increase in mortgage redemptions.

House purchase advances in July were £5.2bn while remortgage lending was £3.3bn

Lloyds Banking Group has revealed today that it will not be closing all of its Cheltenham & Gloucester branches in November as planned 

Instead the bank says it is “reviewing” the planned closure but could not say whether its review would still result in the closure of the branches at a later date.

In June this year Lloyds Banking Group announced that it would close C&G’s 164-strong branch network in November 2009 as the division focuses on building its significant mortgage intermediary businesses.

It said it planned to streamline its broker offering by channelling all business via Birmingham Midshires, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Halifax and Scottish Widows.

A spokeswoman from Lloyds Banking Group says: “Lloyds Banking Group announces it is reviewing the planned closure of the Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network.

“Customers will continue to use the C&G network as usual. All affected colleagues have been briefed by their line manager today.”

Lloyds Banking Group has revealed today that it will not be closing all of its Cheltenham & Gloucester branches in November as planned 

Instead the bank says it is “reviewing” the planned closure but could not say whether its review would still result in the closure of the branches at a later date.

In June this year Lloyds Banking Group announced that it would close C&G’s 164-strong branch network in November 2009 as the division focuses on building its significant mortgage intermediary businesses.

It said it planned to streamline its broker offering by channelling all business via Birmingham Midshires, Cheltenham & Gloucester, Halifax and Scottish Widows.

A spokeswoman from Lloyds Banking Group says: “Lloyds Banking Group announces it is reviewing the planned closure of the Cheltenham & Gloucester branch network.

“Customers will continue to use the C&G network as usual. All affected colleagues have been briefed by their line manager today.”

27% of homeowners are now on their lender’s standard variable rate and 25% state they have no plans to change this.

The percentage rose to 36% for those over 55. With best buy standard variable rates generally remaining lower than best buy fixed rate mortgage deals in the current market place.

The research also shows there are only 11% of homeowners moving to another mortgage deal once their discounted, fixed or tracker rate deal comes to an end.

David Elms, chief executive of Unbiased.co.uk, says: “There are a large proportion of home owners out there who think that sitting on their lender’s SVR is the best solution for them. We have gone through a period of falling base rate, making SVRs suddenly an attractive option compared to many fixed rate deals.

“And with good mortgage deals hard to secure, many homeowners are finding it tough to keep track on which is the best mortgage for them and when is the best time to move onto a new deal. While in the past it could be financially crippling to remain on your lender’s standard variable rate after your mortgage deal had ended, now it is becoming a more popular option.

” It is however worth noting that fixed rate deals will sharply increase should the base rate go up and borrowers may find competitive fixed rate deals hard to come by.”

He says those remaining on SVRs need to stay alert and once the base rate starts to rise again and the market improves, ensure they act fast to secure a new deal which they can rely on not to suddenly rocket in monthly payments.

The proportion of borrowers opting for fixed rate mortgages has hit record levels a  survey has revealed by mortgage brokers.

A panel survey of mortgage brokers, found that over 70% of cases submitted by mortgage brokers in the last three months to the end of June were for fixed rate mortgage deals.This is the highest level since the survey was introduced in 1996 and up from over 55% in the first quarter of the year and 41% in the final quarter of 2008.�
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The proportion of tracker mortgages being introduced has fallen over the same period, which could be the result of  mortgage lenders withdrawing or re-pricing tracker mortgages as the Bank of England reduced interest rates between December 2008 and March 2009.

Tracker mortgages fell from just over 41% to 26% of cases introduced between the first and second quarters of this year.
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Of the fixed rate mortgages, two year terms remains the most popular with four out of 10 borrowers opting for this period, followed by three-year fixes, 32%, five-year, 24%, 10-year, 2.5% and one-year, 1.5% deals.�
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With borrowers unsure whats going to happen with interest rates, they appear to have been opting for the security of fixed rate deals. It is most likely that the next move for interest will be upwards, but it is still unclear when this will be.�
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However, borrowers may be forced a little as lenders withdrew a number of tracker deals when interest rates were falling.

The options for borrowers have generally been very limited as mortgage finance across the UK market has virtually has dried up.

 The Bank of England has held interest rates for a fifth consecutive month yesterday, while increasing its quantitative easing policy by £50bn.

Interest rates remain at their historic low of 0.5%, with no further reductions on the horizon, though it remains unclear when rates will begin to rise again. If I was to have a guess I would think they would rise by at least 1% in 2010.

However, in a more suprising move, the BoE increased its quantitative easing programme to a total of £175bn.

The Treasury is likely to have approved the move, as the central bank previously only had an additional £25bn allocated for quantitative easing.