Pent-up demand will save housing market, says CMLPent-up demand will save housing market, says CML
The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has predicted that the strength of demand for housing in the UK will prevent drastic falls in house prices, as long as people are able to obtain mortgages.
Sue Anderson spoke to Channel 4 News after the Bank of England revealed that only 42,000 new mortgages were granted in May, a 28 per cent drop on the previous month.
Despite the ongoing media focus on the credit crunch, she insisted that the situation is not as dire as people make out, although much relies on banks having enough liquidity to lend to each other.
"There is so much pent-up demand," she said, before explaining that there is a still a fundamental imbalance between the supply and the demand for housing.
"If we can sort out the funding situation I think we stand a reasonable chance of getting the market back on track without as much doom as the doom-mongers suggest," she stated.
The Bank of England also confirmed that mortgage lending fell from £6.2 billion in April to £4.1 billion in May.