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Mortgage lending rises in March, says CML

LONDON (ShareCast) - Gross mortgage lending grew in March despite a decline during the first quarter of the year, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Mortgage lending reached £16.5bn last month, 21% higher than in February. Year-on-year, the amount rose by 7%.

However, lending during the first quarter of the year was 12% down from the same period last year.

Chief economist Bob Pannell said: "Sentiment and activity are showing early signs of improvement, and should be further supported by the effects of stamp duty reform.

"We expect to see lending strengthen over the next few months, albeit from a relatively sluggish start in 2015." Howard Archer, economist at IHS (NYSE: IHS - news) said the data "supports our belief that the weakness in housing market activity is now bottoming out and we see activity gradually picking up over the coming months".

As a result, the analyst expects house prices to rise by 5% this year thanks to the Stamp Duty reform, low mortgage rates and boosted consumer confidence.