BoE: Mortgage approvals rose in May

Date:Tuesday 30th June 2009
Author: Max Freedman

The UK saw a modest increase in the number of mortgage approvals last month, figures produced by the Bank of England (BoE) suggest.

According to the organisation, the number of home loan approvals seen during the 31-day period totalled 43,414.

This was said to be higher than the figure for April and was above the six-month average.

Remortgage approvals, on the other hand, fell in May, the BoE revealed.

There were said to be 30,984 approvals for remortgages agreed during the month.

Commenting on the drop, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said: "It could ... capture the difficulty other borrowers, who have slipped into negative equity (or now require high loan-to-value mortgages) as a result of price house declines, are facing in finding a more attractive alternative offering."

Meanwhile, the annual growth of consumer credit as a whole continued to fall in May and was recorded at 2.3 per cent.