Abbey says mortgage market will soon return to growth

Abbey, Britain’s second largest mortgage lender, expects the mortgage market to return to overall net lending this year as it reported a 25 per cent jump in quarterly profits. Abbey’s chief executive called the lender ‘optimistic’ about business prospects after unemployment had risen by less than had been feared, and house prices had not fallen as much as expected. The Abbey chief added that it would weather the storm better than competitors as its mortgage book had a low loan to value of 52 per cent and only 6 per cent of customers were in negative equity.