"This is the best performing second quarter of a year for house purchase lending in Northern Ireland since 2007, with first-time buyers really driving that rise in activity."
Home buyers and home movers in London dropped by 23% and 41% respectively in Q2. However first-time buyers continued to drive London mortgage lending, borrowing £3bn - up 3% quarterly and 10% annually.
First-time buyers in Northern Ireland borrowed £200m, up 25% on the first quarter 2016 and up 33% on the second quarter last year.
Derek Wilson, CML Northern Ireland chair, said: "This is the best performing second quarter of a year for house purchase lending in Northern Ireland since 2007, with first-time buyers really driving that rise in activity."
Wales also saw strong lending to first-time buyers, with figures up 31% on the first quarter and 24% on the same period last year, which helped to offset a lower number of homemovers.
Julie Ann Haines, CML Cymru chair, commented: "Mortgage lending in Wales in the second quarter saw highest quarterly volume of first-time buyer loans since mid-2007 and the highest volume of remortgage loans since mid-2013. Home mover lending dipped slightly but this was most likely simply a rebalancing after the previous quarter's rush ahead of the stamp duty changes in April."
In Scotland, first-time buyers borrowed £920m, up 42% on the first quarter and 2% on the second quarter last year.
Comparatively, home buyers borrowed £2.2bn for house purchase, up 23% quarter-on-quarter but down 1% year-on-year.
Carol Anderson, CML Scotland chair, said: "First-time buyers continue to be a key driver in the market. This is the 19th successive quarter of growth in first-time buyers compared to a year earlier, and is the highest quarterly number of first-time buyer loans since mid-2007. So, although the data reflects pre-EU referendum, it suggests the Scotland market is in good shape and open for business moving forward."
