Mortgage lending and house prices stoke fears of housing bubble - Telegraph.co.uk

Richard Sexton, of e.surv chartered surveyors, said the market was more accessible to first-time buyers and more mortgage products are on offer which has "triggered a ripple of activity all the way up the housing ladder." But he warned: "There are concerns the improvement is artificial and unsustainable in the long-term. Help to Buy and Funding for Lending have given the market a shot of adrenaline, which has disguised underlying problems like a chronic lack of house building, but they can't continue indefinitely."

Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, used his maiden speech last week to reassure the market he was ready to pop any emerging bubble. "The Bank is acutely aware of the risk of unsustainable credit and house price growth and will be monitoring it closely," he said. "The important thing to recognise is that we now have tools other than interest rates that can be used to contain risks in the property and financial sectors. We are now fully prepared to deploy them if that were needed."

The data also showed total lending to individuals rose by £1.3bn in July, compared to £1.1bn in the previous six months. Lending secured on dwellings rose by £0.7bn while credit card lending increased by £0.2bn.