2013: Heading in the right direction, believe lenders

Published: 21/11/2012

A panel of mortgage lenders, consisting of Nationwide for Intermediaries, Virgin Money and Precise Mortgages, are in broad agreement that the outlook for 2013 is largely positive with expectation that gross mortgage lending will exceed £150bn.

Speaking to delegates at the Mortgage Business Expo in London last week, Alan Cleary, Managing Director of Precise Mortgages, Richard Tugwell, Director of Intermediary Sales at Virgin Money and Ian Andrews, Nationwide’s Managing Director for Group Intermediary Sales were realistic, yet positive about the forthcoming future of the property market.

Mr Cleary envisaged, with an increase in the number of funders interested in the UK mortgage market, there would be a three-fold rise in funding while Mr Tugwell reflected on July, August and September’s activity which showed, for the first time in a while, that the major lenders all had an appetite to do business.

Lenders are not alone in their predictions; latest figures from property search specialists, Rightmove, also give reasons for optimism:

• 20% annual increase in search activity
• 11% annual increase in email enquiries to estate agents and developers
• 9.2% quarterly increase in mortgage approvals.

Miles Shipside is the Director and Housing Market Analyst at Rightmove:

“Though the market remains patchy and national statistics are given a gloss by a buoyant London market, there are a number of positive trends that justify cautious optimism as the market enters its’ winter recess. Outside the capital, agents report prices are broadly flat in many parts of the country compared to a year ago. This stability may indicate a sounder springboard for 2013 as the wait goes on for a sustainable recovery in transaction numbers.”

Content correct at time of publication