§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the total amount advanced in mortgage loans by local authorities in England in each of the last four years.
§ Mr. ArmstrongTotal mortgage loans for both house purchase and improvements made in each of the calendar years 1973, 1974, 1975 and 1976 were 294.6 million, £448.2 million, £635.4 million and £165.8 million respectively.
§ Mr. Richard Wainwrightasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report the total amounts advanced for mortgages under the building society support scheme in each English region in 1976.
636W
§ Mr. ArmstrongTotal building society advances offered and accepted by local authority nominees in each English region since the scheme's inception in October 1975 up to the end of December 1976 are given in the following table:
Region Advances offered and accepted (£000's) West Midlands … 4,949 Eest Midlands … 7,126 North-West … 16,242 London … 28,652 South-East … 25,796 Eest Anglia … 5,737 Northern … 16,295 Yorkshire and Humberside … 10,114 South-West … 11,498 Total … 126,400
§ Mr. Staintonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) if he will circulate in the Official Report the official building society mortgage interest rates and those of local authorities, the latter on a high, medium and low basis, since January 1974;
(2) of the total local authorities with power to advance house purchase mortgages, how many are currently above, at the same level and below the official building society level in terms of interest rates; by what margins; and what are the sums involved in each band of local authority lending.
§ Mr. ArmstrongInformation on mortgage interest rates charged by individual local authorities is not available on a regular basis, and I am unable to add to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Bury St. Edmunds (Mr. Griffiths) on 10th February last. The building society recommended rate of interest since the beginning of 1974 has been:
Per cent. At January 1974 … 11 May 1976 to October 1976 … 10½ November 1976 to date … 12¼
§ Mr. Staintonasked the Secretary of State for the Environment which, if any, local authorities in Suffolk are charging interest to house purchase mortgagees in excess of the official level applied by building societies.
§ Mr. ArmstrongAuthorities currently charging rates in excess of the building societies' recommended rate of 12¼ per 637W cent. are Forest Heath, St. Edmundsbury, Suffolk Coastal and Waveney District Councils.