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Article: Mortgage lending at record GBP 346bn in 2006 - and tipped to grow
- Article from:
- The Scotsman
- Article date:
- January 19, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2007 The Scotsman. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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MORTGAGE lending hit a new record high of GBP 346 billion last
year, according to figures released yesterday by the Council of
Mortgage Lenders (CML).
Gross lending was up 20 per cent from 2005, fuelled by annual
house-price growth of 7 per cent and a 14 per cent increase in the
number of house sales.
The figure of GBP 29.4bn gross lending for December was also a
record for that month. While this was 11 per cent down on the all-
time high of GBP 33.1bn in November, it was up 8 per cent on the GBP
27bn business done in December 2005.
Michael Coogan, the CML's director general, said: "The
commentators who thought the housing market would crash in 2006 were
wrong. Last year, the market ...