Mortgage lending rose by 4% last month, and by 21% on April last year.
But the Council of Mortgage Lenders warned that “meaningful comparisons” with last April are difficult. The CML estimates gross mortgage lending this April to have been £12.1bn.
Despite the CML’s caution, last month was the strongest April for mortgage lending since 2008.
CML chief economist Bob Pannell said: “The comparison with April last year is flattered by the temporary dearth of house buying activity immediately following the closure of the stamp duty concession.
“The true underlying position is that April is likely to have been one of the strongest months for lending activity since late 2008, but not as strong as the year-earlier comparison suggests.
“Gross lending on a seasonally adjusted basis has been running comfortably above £12bn for several months, but this is still barely half the average level of lending seen in 2003-4.”
According to the latest data from HMRC, transactions were 14% up this April on the year before, but down on this March.
There were 79,210 property transactions in April this year, down on the 83,150 reported by HMRC for March.
Meanwhile, the Office for National Statistics has produced its house price index for March. It says that house prices rose year on year by 2.7% across the UK to stand at £235,000 but with wide regional variations – with prices up 3% in England and 1.2% in Wales, but down 1.7% and 2% in Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The house price rise in England was driven by a 7.6% uplift in London and by 3.3% in the south-east.
Excluding London and the south-east, house prices barely moved across the UK, up by just 0.6% in the 12 months to this March to stand at £187,000.
The average price of a new house in the UK was £230,000 in March.
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