Private Finance comments on UK Finance’s mortgage lending within UK postcodes data for Q4 2019

Shaun Church, Director at mortgage broker Private Finance said: “These latest figures show London continues to remain the UK’s property hotspot2.

“The rise in the total value of mortgages in London has been partly driven by the construction of brand-new luxury properties in areas beyond the capital’s traditional luxury property centres.

“Brand new property developments in areas such as Southwark and Islington are likely to have increased the number of high value properties available to purchase in London, which has driven up the value of mortgages required to finance those purchases. Westminster and Kensington & Chelsea’s tight grip over London’s luxury property market seems to be loosening.

“However, these figures only provide a snapshot of the property market before the coronavirus crisis. Mortgage lending activity in London could take a significant hit in the future as a result of the pandemic. The rise in home working during lockdowns has highlighted that workers are able to maintain high productivity levels without being in the office. Employers may be incentivised to encourage employees to work from home more often in the future to reduce costs.

“As a result, buyers could look beyond London and larger cities due to not having to be in close proximity to their offices anymore. We are already seeing a huge level of demand for mortgages from people who want to buy rural properties with more space. This could have the overall effect of driving up mortgage lending in areas beyond the UK’s traditional property hotspots. In the long run, demand may shift to the countryside.”

Source:
1 https://www.ukfinance.org.uk/data-and-research/data/mortgages/mortgage-lending-within-uk-postcodes
2 The value of mortgage lending in London to households rose 4.4% over the last quarter, increasing to a record £295.9bn in Q4 2019, the highest of any region in the UK, up from £283.5bn in Q3 2019 (numbers may differ slightly due to rounding).

Published: 01 July 2020