Paul Stockwell, Chief Commercial Officer at Gatehouse Bank, comments on the Bank of England's Mortgage Lending Statistics for Q3, 2020

“Pent-up demand has continued to push new mortgage commitments to the highest levels since the financial crisis but it wouldn’t have been a surprise to see them register even higher than this.

“The housing market reopened in May but it’s possible that Covid measures have seen the length of time between buyers agreeing purchases and securing lending agreements widen more than the house prices indices have implied.

“That said, the way the value of lending has bounced back from the 53 per cent annual falls witnessed during the previous quarter suggests a level of momentum that makes another leg up in these figures for the final quarter of 2020 all-but-inevitable. The market continues to be powered by the stamp duty holiday and a big shift in sentiment towards houses with gardens and more space which should mean we haven’t seen the back of multi-year highs.”