June mortgage lending falls annual 48 pct -CML

LONDON (Reuters) - Gross mortgage lending fell 48 percent to an estimated 12.3 billion pounds in June from 23.843 billion a year earlier, the Council of Mortgage Lenders said on Monday.

The June lending figure represented a 17 percent increase on the upwardly revised 10.506 billion pounds lent in May, but this was likely driven by seasonal factors, the CML said.

"These may well support lending volumes at moderately higher levels over the rest of the summer," said CML economist Paul Samter.

"But the combined effects of the restricted nature of mortgage funding, reduced number of active lenders, weak labour market and limited consumer demand are likely to hold back any significant and underlying improvement," he said.

Gross mortgage lending between April and June was unchanged from the 33.3 billion pound level achieved in the first three months of the year, the lowest sum lent since the first three months of 2001, the CML said.

"Our forecast for gross mortgage lending of 145 billion pounds this year is unchanged," Samter said.

(Reporting by David Milliken, editing by Mike Peacock)