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A leading London mortgage broker today warned that quantitative easing is having no impact on lending to househunters.
The Bank of England started printing money in March and has now pumped an extra £75 billion into the economy to encourage lending, boost spending and stimulate growth.
But Ray Boulger of mortgage broker John Charcol said the policy is not working.
Boulger said: “Despite the Bank of England having used about £75 billion of the funds it has agreed to commit under its quantitative easing programme, it is hard to see any visible impact of this so far in terms of any real increase in mortgage availability.” Mortgage lending has recovered slightly from its lows of the winter and figures from the Halifax today showed house prices rose 2.6% last month as buyers returned to the market.
Jennet Siebrits, head of residential research at property consultant CB Richard Ellis, said: “The availability of mortgage finance continues to be a problem for first-time buyers despite the reported increase in mortgage approvals.”
David Kuo, director at the financial website The Motley Fool, added: “It appears that High Street lenders are still walking on egg shells. We are not out of the recessionary woods yet.”
