Mortgage lenders wait for
government to help ease logjam
Gross lending totalled an estimated £25.5 billion in May, down only 2 percent from £26.1 billion in April but 19 percent from the £31.5 billion high in May 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Monthly lending levels have continued well below their position last year but at good historic levels. The Bank of England’s approvals figures show that this pattern will continue in coming months, and that lending activity has strongly focused on the remortgage market.

But a wide range of banks and building societies continue to offer a range of mortgages in the market place, despite the credit crunch and funding constraints.

CML director general, Michael Coogan, said: “The remortgage market remains on track to meet our forecast for growth this year, demonstrating the resilience of the market despite recent bad news.

“However, by comparison, the next few months will remain very weak for house purchase activity for the funding reasons which are now well rehearsed. We still await first signs of the Bank of England’s Special Liquidity Scheme indirectly helping to ease the current logjam.”

New village development handy for The City
Residential Landlords who want to get a foothold in one of the most sought after Kentish dormitory towns for city workers are being provided an opportunity by Hillreed Homes.

The developer has just started marketing Bowden Court in Kemsing near Sevenoaks.

Sevenoaks is already home to many employees who work in London’s financial institutions and it is particularly popular with their colleagues from overseas who have to spend time in the UK on secondment with their families and need large homes to rent (usually paid for by their company).

The new development will comprise five substantial, executive style, four bedroom houses.

Kemsing, a satellite village of Sevenoaks, is a semi rural location. With the M20/M25 being close by there are good road connections to the Dartford Tunnel, North London, Redhill, Maidstone, Gatwick and Heathrow airport and Ashford which has Eurostar rail links to the continent.

Sevenoaks station has fast train services to London with journey times of just over 30 minutes.

The properties to be built in Kemsing are new house designs and cannot be found at any other of the Hillreed sites in the county.

Northern Rock quick to pay off its debts
As reports emerge that mortgage tenders are to increase their debt management resources following a rise in the number of borrowers in arrears comes news that Northern Rock is paying back the Bank of England loans, needed to keep it operating after a dramatic run on the bank, quicker than expected.

Northern Rock, which was eventually nationalised by the government after failing to find a buyer, owed the Bank of England £24.1bn on 31 March, a reduction of £2.8bn in three months.

However, the lender’s other assets have fallen by £7.9bn since 2 April.

In a separate issue, Ron Sandler, the executive chairman of Northern Rock, is examining how the former board acted during its crisis. One outcome is that he may consider suing board members for compensation.

Sandler who was appointed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also looking for a successor with more hands on banking experience to take over the day-to-day running of the organisation.