Mortgage lending climbs to 2008 levels: should Britain be worried? Sales and demand is now expected to quieten down before Christmas and in the run up to the general election, while the mortgage market review (MMR), that was introduced last April, has addressed reckless lending and stifled the wider ability to borrow. "MMR had a bigger impact than anticipated," said Jonathan Harris, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris. The regulators didn't want it to prevent credit worthy people from borrowing but it had an effect across the board even impacting private bankers lending to clients. While mortgage lending is starting to climb again, up on September, it is still lower than figures witnessed in July (£19.6bn) - the peak of the year. Property experts think this could be signalling a new reality for the mortgage market. "A new norm is emerging," said Andrew Montlake of broker Coreco.co.uk. We will not get back to figures seen during the bubble, as much of that was made up by subprime. The question is - where is the new norm? The broker predicted "steady but not spectacular growth for next year." The mortgage market may see a boost after the general election but by that point we're approaching rate rises, he added. "Remortgages not as vibrant at the moment but people have realised that they have a year now before rate rises and are looking around for good deals and discounted fixed rate products," said Henry Woodcock, mortgage consultant at IRESS. "The smaller lenders such as Virgin are grabbing more market share as people can't get appointments big lenders," he added.