In October, the number of loans to movers was 35,000, a 10% rise on the previous month and up 4% on October last year. By value, lending to movers totalled £6.5 billion, 8% up on September and up 10% on October last year.
Home movers typically borrowed three times their gross income in October, compared to 3.06 in September. The typical loan size for home movers was £153,000 in October, down from £154,965 in September, while the typical gross household income of a home mover was £53,500 in October compared to £53,292 in September.
Home movers' payment burden remained relatively low in October at 18.5% of gross income being spent to cover monthly capital and interest payments, down from 18.8% in September, and well below the recent peak of 23.8% in December 2007.
Paul Smee, director general of the CML, commented:
“This has been a year of change for our industry, but the market has shown remarkable stability with house purchase and buy-to-let lending showing steady, consistent growth throughout 2014 compared to 2013. There have been fluctuations month to month but overall the market appears to be showing a positive direction of travel going into the new year.
"Stamp duty reform was long overdue and it is welcome that the tax has been changed. It will now be interesting to see how the market reacts; the new structure should be less of a barrier to mobility for those looking to get on the housing ladder or movers looking to switch homes."
