The report has said that the mortgage market has continued to recover in 2014, with all types of purchasers more active in the market - first-time buyers, movers, private landlords and cash buyers. Additionally, both transactions and lending volumes have grown solidly, but are still short of pre-crisis levels.
2014 has seen particularly strong growth for smaller lenders (those outside the ‘top 20’) whose market share is now back to ‘pre-crunch’ levels – up from less than 1% to more than 8% in just two years.
According to CML, this year also saw the 'successful implementation of the mortgage market review', with little impact on lending which has grown by more than 15%.
Stephen Noakes, CML chairman, said:
"Our work on the MMR is not completely finished yet. In the second half of the year, we continued to liaise with members and with the FCA to identify unintended consequences. And it is true that some effects – like the impact on remortgaging – may take time to emerge fully.
"We are encouraged that the regulator’s focus so far appears to be on delivering the right outcomes for consumers, rather than on the application of the detail of every last rule."
The review also noted the successful completion of the first stage of a communications strategy targeted at interest-only borrowers.
2014 saw a 13% reduction in the total number of interest-only borrowers, from 3.2 million to 2.8 million; a 14% reduction in balances outstanding on interest-only mortgages, from £424 billion to £363 billion; and an 18% decline in the number of interest-only mortgages due to mature by 2020, from 980,000 to 800,000.
Help to Buy also saw continued success, and by autumn this year accounted for almost 6% of house purchases in the preceding 15 months.
Overall, activity increased across the whole of the UK, with lending up in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and London.
In his introduction to the Review, CML director general Paul Smee said:
"The last year has again displayed the mortgage sector’s capacity to adapt. Lending has grown in 2014, especially during a frantic first few months when comments about an unsustainable boom in lending and price rises were freely aired.
"There can be some confidence in the continuing development of a thriving and competitive mortgage market. There have, of course, been challenges, mainly as a result of regulatory and other interventions – but the industry has responded well to these."
