UK mortgage approvals purchases bounced back in September after hitting a 19-month low in August, new figures show.
According to the Bank of England, there were 62,932 mortgage approvals in September compared to 60,984 the previous month. However this figure was down 9.6% from a year ago.
The Bank’s Money and Credit report showed that mortgage lending rose from £10.4 billion in August to £11.1 billion in September.
The number of approvals for remortgaging was 42,440, compared to the average of 41,882 over the previous six months.
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “The September Bank of England mortgage approvals data tie in with other indications that housing market activity has edged off its recent lows, helped by the current resilience of the economy.
“However, we suspect that house prices will come under increasing pressure as 2017 progresses and may dip modestly over the year, possibly by around 3%.”
Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, said: “The figures from the BoE today show that the mortgage market continues to buck the expected post-referendum trend. The effect of low interest rates appears to be having the desired effect when it comes to consumer confidence and spending.
“Unsurprisingly the remortgage market is bubbling along and in general keeping the market as a whole in a positive position. The increase in longer term fixes is telling in itself, perhaps the insecurity of what happens when Article 50 is implemented in 2017 is the driving factor here.”
Article published by What Mortgage - 31st October 2016