Mortgage lending falls in May

Gross mortgage lending fell 58 percent year-on-year to 10.3 billion pounds in May, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Thursday.

The figure represented a 2.0 percent fall from the 10.5 billion total in April 2009.

"While recent signs from the housing market have been more encouraging, we do not anticipate a significant recovery in activity in the coming months" CML economist Paul Samter said in a statement.

Lending volumes appear to have stabilised at extremely low levels, but the weak labour market and lenders' limited access to funding will constrain activity for some time yet.

"Underneath the headline gross lending figure, it's likely that a moderate improvement in house purchase lending in May has been offset by very low remortgaging volumes as borrowers stay with existing deals."