Mortgage recovery 'has no roots'

THOSE eager to grasp better numbers on mortgage approvals as potential "green shoots" of recovery were given a blunt warning yesterday, when Michael Coogan, director-general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, said: "Our current perception is that these 'green shoots' have no roots, and we will continue to see month-on-month volatility in the levels of lending, transaction numbers and house prices."

Mr Coogan was speaking in Edinburgh at the annual lunch and People Awards of Homes for Scotland, the leading housebuilding body, attended by 500 industry representatives at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

John Low, incoming chairman of Homes for Scotland, castigated the Scottish Government for failing to field a single minister to attend the event after the worst year for housebuilding on record.

The industry, which was building 20,000 houses a year at the peak, has lost 26,000 jobs in the past year.

Mr Low said: "It is disappointing that Scottish Government has not been able to field a single Cabinet secretary or even a minister to address our annual lunch. Shame on them. They are undoubtedly the poorer for it.

"Scottish housebuilding has borne the brunt of the credit crunch fallout, resulting in dramatic drops in activity and the loss of many thousands of jobs.

"It will be the talent, passion and commitment of those who remain that will move the industry beyond the current crisis – it is they who will implement its recovery in the months and years ahead."

Alex Neil, the recently- appointed housing minister, is understood to have blamed constituency duties for his inability to attend.

Mr Low said that while there had been much change to primary legislation in Scotland, "the fundamental 'local' culture has still to improve by anything like the same magnitude".

The meeting coincided with latest figures showing that mortgage approvals rose to 39,230 in March from 37,716 in February.

The increase in lending was smaller than expected and while the change represents the second consecutive increase in monthly net lending, the number of mortgage approvals were barely a third of the 2007 peak.

Figures from the Building Societies Association showed that while mortgage approvals rose sharply in March, net lending – that is, advances less mortgage repayments – went negative to show a figure of minus 717 million against a net lending total of 781m in March last year.

Among the award winners yesterday were Paddy Malone of Mactaggart & Mickel who took the Construction Award; Brian Leith of Miller Homes won the Land and Planning Award; Margaret McMurdo of Persimmon Homes won the Sales and Marketing Award and Mike Walker, chairman of the Walker Group, won the Industry Achievement Award.