Mortgage lending shrugs off August’s move back up alert levels

PHOTO: Mortgage lending

Despite August being affected by the latest round of social restrictions, mortgage lending activity showed no clear effects. Indeed, lending flows last month were again significantly higher than a year earlier, with low mortgage rates clearly still playing a key role in boosting activity. The end of the wage subsidy and the prospect of higher unemployment needs to continue to be watched closely, but there doesn’t seem to be too much else on the horizon that might slow mortgage lending activity markedly over the next few months.