UK Mortgage Lending Stalls Amid 'Fog' of Stricter Affordability Rules

It is still unclear as to whether tighter controls on the UK's recovering mortgage market will have any drastic affect, according to experts.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), which represents the market's financial institutions, said gross lending was £16.5bn (€20.6bn, $28bn) in May, exactly the same as April. This is 12% higher over the year.

At the end of April, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) imposed stricter affordability tests on mortgage lenders following its Mortgage Market Review (MMR).

It means they must be more diligent in who they lend to by applying a more stringent assessment of a borrower's ability to make repayments factoring in interest rate rises.

This move was off the back of concerns that the low interest rate environment was encouraging people to take on bigger mortgages than they could handle, especially once the Bank of England raises its base rate from the all-time-low of 0.5%.

And this risk has been compounded by rising house prices, particularly London and the south east. Bigger property values mean more mortgage debt for the borrower.

"Market indicators point to a slowdown in activity levels, in part associated with new mortgage rules, but it is unclear how lasting this will be," said CML chief economist Bob Pannell.

"Implementation of the new regulatory regime is likely to have disrupted the normal patterns of activity, creating statistical 'fog' around the published figures.

"As this lifts over the coming months, a clearer picture as to any lasting impact of the MMR rules on lending activity should emerge."

Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England, has said a rise in interest rates may come sooner than markets expect. Analysts had been predicting a mid-2015 hike in the base rate.