I wholly support the call by Financial Services Director Nigel Stockton from Countrywide, urging the Government to introduce mortgage lending targets. He said “Since November last year lenders have been closely monitoring their sales volume by imposing stricter lending criteria and new restrictions on lending. We would speculate that the continued issues with the Eurozone leading to increased wholesale funding or other liquidity issues are all playing a role in preventing the banks from lending.” This certainly follows trends that I have reported and I would welcome the Government introducing lender targets which would be of great benefit to the housing market.
Lindsay Darroch Partner and Head of Property