The number of people who were approved for new mortgages in May rose to its highest level since March 2014, providing fresh evidence of confidence in the housing market.
Almost 73,000 mortgages were approved in May by Britain’s high street banks, according to the British Bankers’ Association, compared to a 20-month low of just over 60,000 in December.
The size of loan approved for a house purchase also increased to just shy of £170,000, compared to a typical loan of £159,000 two years ago.
“The increase in mortgage approvals this month is consistent with the trend we’ve seen since the start of the year,” said Richard Woolhouse, chief economist at the BBA. “The numbers show that the property market remains buoyant after the general election.”
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight said he expected the number of mortgage approvals to continue to grow, with recent surveys reporting a marked increase in the number of people interested in buying a house.
“Meanwhile, a shortage of properties coming on to the market is currently exerting increasing upward pressure on house prices,” he said.
The amount of money people borrowed via personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts also grew by 5% in the year to May – its highest rate since autumn 2010 according to the BBA.
via The Guardian
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Alfonso Esparza
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
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