Mired mortgage market to pick up slowly

By Lorraine Turner LONDON (Reuters) - Gloom in the housing market, where data showed confidence at a record low Tuesday, is not expected to lift in the short term, as it will take time for the government's plan to bail out banks to feed through. Council of Mortgage Lenders data for August showed new lending dropped 63 percent year-on-year to 6 billion pounds, with the number of new mortgages falling 60 percent to 42,200. "The package of measures announced yesterday will have a positive effect, but it will take time for it to feed through to the mortgage market," CML director general Michael Coogan said. When unveiling the planned government bailout Monday, Chancellor Alistair Darling said: "The... [read full story]