While the manufacturing sector has shown signs of relief, the housing sector of UK, in particular, is going through a tough phase. Even though the total number of lending’s has increased, the value of the total lending has gone down by as much as 50% for the month of December.

As per the data released by Building Societies Association (BSA), a total of 18.6 billion pound was given by the lenders in 2009 as compared to 37.5 billion pound for the same period last year.

While talking about the fall, a spokeswoman of BSA said, “Funding has been quite challenging and it has been very expensive. This is caused by a combination of unfair competition from the government-backed banks and banks competing more in the savings market.”

Some societies are trying to reduce their margins so that they can maintain a good level of saving, one of the major reasons for the fall. The total savings done by the members is much less than last year and thus stopping the societies from going ahead with their business.