This is some text prior to the author information. You can change this text from the admin section of WP-Gravatar To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box. Read more from this authorSome encouraging news for the economy at last – the latest figures on home buying loans from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed a 4% rise in the number of home loans issued in November. The actual number of loans totalled just over 47,000, up 3% on November 2010.
House sales rose slightly in November
At a time when money is tight and unemployment benefit claims are at an all time high, some positive news from the housing sector is well received.
Of course the level of house sales is no where near pre-crisis figures, with less than half the amount of transactions being carried out. Speaking about November’s results, the CML’s director general Paul Smee commented: “A rise in mortgage lending towards the end of 2011 is a welcome indicator for the industry considering confidence has been weak due to fragile economies.”
He added: “We should expect a further increase in first-time buyer activity over the next few months as they push through their purchases to take advantage of the stamp duty concession before it ends in March.”
The temporary exemption from stamp duty initiated by the Labour Government in 2010 will come to an end in just over two months on 24 March. The exemption allows buyers to secure a property for less than £250,000 and avoid the 1% stamp duty.
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