Paul Stockwell, Chief Commercial Officer at Gatehouse Bank, comments on the Bank of England's Money and Credit Mortgage data for April 2021
“Mortgage lending in April fell off a cliff edge created by the original stamp duty deadline in April, but there’s every expectation it will accelerate away again over the next couple of months. April’s figures are uncharacteristic, representing a symptom of March’s bottleneck of transactions rather than a true reflection of demand.
“Even though robust by historic standards, it hasn’t been this low for over six months and is likely to bounce back rapidly. There’s been no fundamental change in the market to suggest a change of pace, and approvals for house purchase have actually risen.
“Measures of housing market sentiment still all point to frenzied competition for homes. That’s a sure sign that the continued ‘race for space’ will characterise the housing market over the summer at least, with buyers eager to meet the extended June deadline for stamp duty relief if they can."