David Newnes, director of LSL Property Services, owners of Your Move and Reeds Rains, comments: “Rising mortgage approvals and easing credit conditions are shining light on a mortgage market that has been covered in darkness since the financial crisis. The availability of mortgages has improved in the first few months of 2013, and at the going rate it is likely to increase further as the support of the Funding for Lending scheme continues to trickle through, allowing banks to access cheaper credit. Mortgage approvals are still only about half the monthly average recorded in the decade to 2007, when the financial crisis hit home, but there are stark pointers that progress is being made. Improved sentiment and a lack of properties for sale are propping up values, combined with the fact new government measures are supporting confidence further. People are queuing up to take advantage of the government’s Help to Buy scheme, that will help people get on or move up the property ladder. There have already been signs of healthy demand in its first two weeks.”
