Banks' gross mortgage lending up 4%
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High street banks carried out gross mortgage lending of £8.0bn in October, down from £8.4bn in September, but 4% higher than in October 2010.
The slight upturn in recent months in both house purchase and remortgaging approvals has led to slightly stronger gross mortgage lending, but capital repayment continues at a high level, so net mortgage lending increased by only £0.9bn in October.
There were 76,042 mortgage approvals in October, up from 73,334 in September.
House purchase approvals - 35,295, were higher than in September and 16% higher than in October 2010.
The number of remortgage approvals - 25,281, was higher than in September and 3% higher than in October 2010
David Dooks, statistics director at the BBA, says: “The mortgage market, where the high street banks provide around 70% of new lending, remains subdued and demand for unsecured borrowing is slow, reflecting householders’ caution in the current economic environment.”
“Property-related companies and hotels & restaurants were the last industrial sectors to cut back their borrowing throughout 2009 and 2010 and there may be signs of those sectors emerging first. The level of borrowing by hotels & restaurants is now higher than it was a year ago.”
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