Funding should top the political agenda
Posted on May 10th 2010
The CML lunch was a much brighter affair than it was a year ago. Firstly, there appeared to be a lot more people in attendance, probably 600 or so and also the mood of optimism appeared to be much more prevalent.
A year earlier we were right in the thick of the messy stuff and pretty much everyone felt pessimistic. I had a number of good conversations with people about whether we have turned the corner in the mortgage market and I am pleased to say that everyone I spoke to thought so.
With the elections done and dusted we now need some significant effort from government, trade bodies, regulators and the industry to bring about some momentum in the funding of mortgages. I was pleased to see the LBG securitisation get away so well and at better spreads but there needs to be more done to get new lenders going who have the potential to bring new funding into the UK mortgage space.
The consensus at the CML lunch was that gross lending this year will be c£150bn which is pretty much flat to last year, so if we do not do something in the next few months to kick start funding then not only will 2010 be flat but so will 2011. A number of people and some trade bodies are already actively lobbying for some attention to be brought to the mortgage market, so let’s hope that some much needed medicine is administered quickly.
