UK home buyers borrowed a whopping £11.2 billion in March. Whilst down on this time last year due to the changes in stamp duty and its consequential ‘boom’ of buy-to-lets, this figure is substantially up on those for earlier this year.

It is certainly enough for Jordan Lyons – Sales Manager of Mayfair Town & Country Estate Agents in Worle - to describe them as “remarkably good” and a good suggestion that serious buyers and sellers are “simply getting on with it.”

The data was produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders and, although referring to March, it can be seen as no less encouraging as a comparison to other less positive reports that have surfaced, only providing mere snapshots of the current market.

Of these figures, first-time buyers represented a large, encouraging chunk, borrowing around £4.9 billion – an increase of 29% from February. They also took out 31,500 loans, which was up 30% month-on-month and 12% year-on-year.

Those moving home borrowed £6.2 billion, an increase of 19% from February but down 33% year-on-year - 30,200 loans, which were up 24% month-on-month but down 28% compared to the total in March 2016.

As to be expected, the number of loans and amount borrowed decreased 58% and 60% respectively from the total in March 2016 – when there was a marked increase in activity due to the impending stamp duty surcharge.

Jordan went on to say: “I’m sure we’ll see the number of first time buyers continue to grow as the Bank of Mum and Dad becomes more prevalent, whilst at the same time lenders are offering some really competitive pricing. Many home owners are also choosing to remortgage their property, taking advantage of the many cheap mortgage deals available and the lenders’ desire to attract new business. I expect this behaviour to continue well into Summer.”