The number of mortgages taken out by people buying a home fell for the fourth month in a row during February to reach a new low, figures showed today.
Just 49,000 home loans were advanced to people buying a property during the month, 3.5 per cent less than in January and the lowest figure since the Council of Mortgage Lenders first began to collect data in this format in 2002.
The group said mortgages for homemovers were around 30 per cent lower than they had been in February 2007, continuing the trend seen during the previous two months, with year-on-year declines likely to continue for the rest of 2008.