Figures suggest mortgage boom

BOSSES at Ipswich Building Society were celebrating today after encouraging figures revealed a 137 per cent increase in mortgage lending.

The boom comes despite Bank of England base rates at an all time low and mortgage lending in the building society sector drastically falling over the last 12 months.

The industry has seen a fall in gross mortgage lending of 57pc from May 2008.

Delighted chief executive Paul Winter said: “Our mortgage lending has been increasing month-on-month for some time and this is set to continue in June and July.

“The society is not immune to the effects of the recession but we have a determination to grow our business for the future stability of the society and its members.”

Cindy and Jasper Robinson, a young married couple, have just bought their first house together in Cormorant Drive, Stowmarket, moving in last month.

They were previously living in rented accommodation at the army quarters at Wattisham where Mr Robinson works as an aircraft technician but having saved enough money for a deposit, they decided to take the plunge and take out a mortgage with Ipswich Building Society.

Mrs Robinson, 23, who works as a cashier at the Ipswich branch of the Ipswich Building Society, said: “We had been saving and we were hoping to get our own house.

“We had a ten per cent deposit for the house and we thought it was the perfect time to get a good deal. It was really quite easy to get a mortgage. Everything was straight forward and it was all explained to us.”

Last month the British Bankers' Association said the number of mortgages approved for house purchase across the UK hit a 13-month high of 31,162 during May.

Do you think the housing crisis is easing? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.