Mortgage approvals up in April
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Figures released by the Bank of England today show there were 49, 871 mortgage approvals in April, up from 49,008 in March.
The number of approvals were however below the previous six-month average of 53,098.
Net lending increased by £0.5bn, stronger than the March rise of £0.2bn but below the previous six-month average of £1.3bn.
There were 26,295 approvals for remortgages in April, which was lower than in March but still in line with the previous six-month average of 26,203.
Approvals for other purposes totalled 24,823 and were also lower than March and below the previous six-month average of 26,212.
Paul Hunt, managing director of Phoebus, says: “It’s great to see mortgage lending creeping up, although the figures show the continued sluggish nature of the housing market - the number of mortgages approved for house purchases in April was only slightly higher than the 45,529 of the same month a year ago, and it was lower than the average of the past six months.
“Competition is heating up, and with the appearance of Aldermore and Precise Mortgages - and the reappearance of Link Loans - there will soon be even more options for borrowers and brokers. That’s excellent news for the market.”
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Readers' comments (1)
Matthew | 2 Jun 2010 11:45 am
Let's hope the long overdue demise of HIP's will result in an increase of sales.
(Although the World Cup will do it's bit to slow things down to a halt for the next couple of months I think!)
Still I think we can live with that!
Come on England! Win the cup, give us something to cheer about and then we can all go out and move house in celebration!
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