The number of Muslim people taking out Shariah-compliant mortgages has risen sharply in the last six months – and is expected to continue growing.
Under Shariah law it is forbidden to earn money from money - prohibiting interest payments - but specialist provider alburaq, in partnership with leading mortgage lender Bristol & West, has released a range of mortgage offers which operate without charging interest.
The products, catering to home and buy-to-let investors, were launched at the end of 2004 and alburaq has now announced that it approved £100 million of mortgage business in the second half of last year alone.
"We are now seeing the UK market developing very quickly. It is also noticeable that the nature of our enquiries is changing and less explanation is now required about how these products work and the focus is now more about how much is the cost," commented Keith Leach, Head of alburaq.
"At the moment the volume of Islamic mortgage business is only a small percentage of the total mortgage figure in the UK, but based on our current trends we are predicting significant growth over the next two years."
Around two million Muslims currently live in Britain, with alburaq forecasting the total market for Shariah-compliant products to reach £1 billion by 2009.
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