Housing providers should not pin their hopes on private finance to 'jump start' the supply of new homes, the director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has told housing professionals.

Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing's annual conference, Michael Coogan said mortgage lending had stabilised but was likely to remain at current levels until at least 2015.

"We are in the middle of seven lean years," he told delegates in Harrogate. "It's important that we are back at a period of stability, even if it’s at a lower level of activity."

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Lenders, he added, had no wish to return to the "over-excited" levels of borrowing that preceded the credit crunch. He stressed the CML was working closely with the National House Building Council (NHBC) to assist the house building industry.

The UK Housing Review Briefing published today by CIH shows that house building rates in the UK have recovered slightly but the number of homes being built is less than half that needed to keep pace with the growth in households.

Pat Ritchie, Chief Executive of the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), said: "Movement on mortgages was required to support the government's affordable homes programme."

She praised housing associations and other providers for their response to the £4.5bn programme and said the HCA would announce next month which bids had been successful.

(CD)