Mortgage lending reached a record level in June, according to the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML), despite five interest rate hikes in 12 months taking the base rate to 5.75%. Gross mortgage lending reached £34.2 billion in June – up from £31.4 billion in May. This represented a 9% increase on the previous month – a lower monthly increase for June than in each of the last two years (12% in 2006; 15% in 2005). CML director general Michael Coogan warned the Bank of England’s rate-setting monetary policy committee to carefully consider any further increases. “While the markets still expect one more interest rate rise before the end of the year, we believe the MPC should carefully assess the impact of past rises on inflationary pressures before it takes further action.”<br><br>He added: “Despite the record level of mortgage lending, there are signs that the market is feeling the cumulative effects of the five interest rate rises we have seen over the past year. This effect will become much more evident in the coming months as borrowers with fixed-rate mortgages come off their existing deal into a significantly higher interest rate environment.” Nationwide Building Society has confirmed that it is standing …