Scotland's housing market recovery trails UK's

Published on 24/02/2010 21:46

THE housing market in Scotland is recovering at a much slower pace than in the UK as a whole, figures revealed yesterday.

About 14,200 mortgages were advanced to people buying a property in Scotland during the final three months of 2009.

The figure was 4 per cent more than during the previous quarter, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML), but less than half the 9 per cent jump in mortgages seen during the same period for the whole of the UK.

The difference is even starker when the final quarter is compared with the same period of 2008, with Scotland seeing only a 22 per cent rise in the number of loans for house purchase, compared with a 62 per cent rise for the UK as a whole.

The Scottish housing market showed gradual signs of improvement during 2009, with the number of mortgages lent to people buying a home nearly doubling during the final quarter compared with the first one.

But the market enjoyed a much stronger 2008, leading to a 23 per cent fall in mortgages during the whole of 2009 compared with the previous year, while across the whole of the UK the number was broadly unchanged.

The CML added that the 47,000 loans for house purchase in Scotland during the year was the lowest level since it began collecting data 16 years ago.

Kennedy Foster, CML Scotland policy consultant, said: "We do not anticipate an increase in lending activity immediately."

But he said an improvement in market conditions should support a modest increase in activity later in the year.