The Bank of England is threatening to impose tough new curbs on mortgage lending as it seeks to head off a future housing bubble.
In the financial policy committee’s quarterly Financial Stability Report, published today, it says there is no “immediate threat” to financial stability from the housing market but issues a series of warnings about the quality of mortgage lending and funding.
The report says the bank could tackle a house price bubble with tougher capital rules in targeted areas alongside loan to value and loan to income caps.
The warnings come on the same day the bank brought forward the end of funding for lending on mortgages by one year to January 2014.
Council of Mortgage Lenders’ data shows mortgage lending rocketed 37 per cent year on year in October, its highest level in five years.
Knight Frank and Savills’ house price surveys, both published this month, forecast house prices to rise by a quarter in five years.