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Mortgage lending rises in November

November is normally a month that would be associated with a decline in the number of people borrowing for mortgages, as people begin to look towards the festive season. However, new figures release by the Major British Banking Groups shows that this has not been the case in the year 2000.

The level of mortgage lending rose by over £2 billion compared to October, representing a sizeable pickup in the market. Overall, the size of the personal borrowing market grew at roughly the same rate as in October, but this still represents healthy gains for the Autumnal period. December usually sees a sharp increase in the overall level of borrowing, though this is fuelled by the widespread purchase of Christmas shopping on credit, and not by mortgage borrowing.

The MBBG comprise the banking groups of Abbey National, Alliance & Leicester, Bank of Scotland, Barclays, Halifax, HSBC Bank, LloydsTSB, Northern Rock and The Royal Bank of Scotland.