Mortgage payments 'accounted for lower proportion of income when
buying houses for sale'
People who bought houses
for sale in May paid the lowest average proportion of income on
their mortgage repayments in 35 years, it has been found.
According to research from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML),
the proportion of income spent on mortgage repayments in May was
9.5 per cent, while in April it was 9.6 per cent.
Though this drop is small, in comparison with May 2009's figure of
11.4 per cent, it has fallen considerably over the last year.
CML director general Michael Coogan said: "Activity picked up in
the second half of 2009 due to the stamp duty holiday but with the
government's austerity drive picking up momentum we are unlikely to
see a repeat of those buoyant numbers this year."
He added that comparisons with last year's figures "look unlikely
to continue".
John Charcol's Ray Boulger said that figures from the Bank of
England's Credit Conditions Survey, which suggested that mortgage
lenders were restricting how much money they let people take out,
will not affect the demand among people who want loans.