The Bank of England has revealed some less than optimistic news regarding the strength of mortgage lending over the next few months.  The Trends in Lending report from the Central Bank details how lenders are not predicting any sort of surge in mortgage business through the summer months.

Gross mortgage lending as well as total mortgage approvals were down in March compared with the month prior.  Remortgage approvals also fell during the same time frame.  The numbers were marginal, but enough to cause further concern that the market is starting the year headed in the wrong direction.

The Bank of England commented on lenders expectations, saying: "In recent discussions, some lenders reported expectations of subdued lending for house purchase in coming months."

The director of Coreco, Andrew Montlake, sees the figures in a different light when considering the view of the home hunters, saying: "In March we saw a pick-up in enquiry levels from people looking to purchase property, but many are hampered by the shortage of housing and the inaccessibility of finance."

In addition to the attitude of many house hunters, he added there has been less demand for remortgage products due to less fear of an immediate rate hike.

The head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau, Brian Murphy, is somewhat confused by the remortgage approval figure falling in March due to the apprehension of a rate hike during the same month. 

He said:  "April is likely to see a drop in mortgage approvals compared with March as the second half of the month was a write-off given the number of bank holidays. At best, the market in April was subdued."