Increased lending could be good news for first-time buyers

05-Jan-2010

First-time buyers may view the Bank of England's latest lending figures as promising, after it was revealed the amount of cash awarded to purchase property with rose by £1.5 billion in November.

That amount smashed the £1.1 billion increase recorded in October and the six-month average of £0.7 billion.

The number of mortgages dished out by lenders was also encouraging - increasing to 60,518 from 57,718 in October and significantly ahead of the six-month average of 52,776.

With signs that financial institutions are beginning to loosen their purse strings when it comes to home purchase deals, now could be a good time for first-time buyers to try and make the first step on to the ladder.

However, there was one cautionary statistic from the Building Societies Association (BSA), which revealed that building societies' lending reduced from £1.6 million to £1.5 million.

Adrian Coles, BSA's director general, said: "Funding conditions for all lenders are improving slowly, but these are still acting as a brake on lending, as is the relatively small number of properties coming to market."

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