Mortgage lending up slightly in February
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Gross mortgage lending by high street banks in February rose by £0.6bn to £8.6bn, show the latest figures from the British Bankers Association.
There were 35,275 mortgages approved in February, only slightly higher than the 35,154 in January.
Net mortgage lending grew by £2.8bn in February compared with £2.6bn in January, but was below the previous six month average.
Annual growth of 4.7% in net mortgage lending substantially exceeds growth of just 1.0% across the whole market.
Subdued spending has led to consumer credit contracting by 1.7% over the last year and, together with lower mortgage costs, personal deposits are continuing to improve and were some 5.6% higher than a year earlier.
House purchase approvals were some 16% higher than in February last year but still well below the figure in December as the aftermath of the year-end change to Stamp Duty was still working through.
The average value of house purchase approvals (£140,800) was 11.5% higher than a year ago.
David Dooks, BBA statistics director, says: “High street banks continue to provide the majority of all new lending for mortgages, though the volume of approvals remains subdued after the year-end Stamp-Duty change.
“Consumers are focusing on building up their deposits, while any increase in borrowing appetite is unlikely without greater household confidence and economic certainty.”
