However, March saw a monthly dip in lending as some landlords were too late to beat the stamp duty surcharges coming into effect on the 1st April. The month saw 67,173 overall house purchase approvals – 9.1% lower than the 73,871 seen in February.
Q1 approvals were 13.5% higher than in the first three months of 2015. House purchase lending has also risen annually – up 8.2% from 62,095 loans granted in March 2015.
March saw the proportion of small-deposit lending (to buyers with a deposit worth 15% or less) climb to 17.1% of overall house purchase loans granted - a significant rise from the 15.7% proportion seen the previous month.
Small deposit loans saw an annual increase of 19.3%. This strong performance also applied to first-time buyer sales, with February seeing 21,100 first-time buyer sales, up 6.6% from February 2015.
Richard Sexton, director of e.surv chartered surveyors, commented:
“Neither fears of the Mortgage Credit Directive, nor the stamp duty surcharge have been able to slow the momentum of current lending levels. Lending has proved yet again its resilience in the face of regulation and legislation. March may not be the most impressive month numerically but it has set a sustainable standard for the rest of the year.
“It’s particularly encouraging to see first-time buyers enjoying a promising start to 2016. A lot of attention has centred on the buy-to-let sector lately, and potentially now it’s time that the first-time buyer market moves into the spotlight.
“Lenders are keen to invest in first-timers and with a variety of rates and options available, there’s a raft of choices out there. And first-time buyers don’t appear to be overly cautious, as the proportion of small-deposit borrowing rises."
