This was 6% down on September and 11% down on October last year. The value of these loans (£4.1 billion) was down 7% on the previous month and down 5% on October last year.
However, house purchase lending as a whole increased month-on-month in October totalling 65,000 loans. This was up 11% compared to September with the value of these loans totalling £10.9bn, a rise of 9%. Compared to October 2013, the number of loans increased by 9% and the value of lending by 15%.
Gross mortgage lending reached £18.6 billion in October. This is 3% higher than September (£18.1 billion), and 6% higher than October last year (£17.5 billion). This is the highest lending total for an October since 2007 (£33.1 billion).
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."
