Spanish mortgage lending falls again

Mortgage lending in Spain fell for the 13th month in August as the global credit crunch coupled with the collapse of a domestic housing boom threatened to tip the economy into recession.

Mortgage lending fell 38 percent from a year earlier, as measured by the amount of money disbursed, after a 29 percent drop in July, the Madrid-based National Statistics Institute said yesterday.

It was the sharpest fall since lending began declining in August 2007. The number of mortgages issued for homes dropped 37 percent, as did the amount of homes sold.