27
Jan
Winter spurt in mortgage lending, says BBA
Gross mortgage lending by the major UK banks reached its highest
monthly level of the year in December, industry figures show.
Lending of £9bn was 12% higher than in December 2010, the
British Bankers' Association (BBA) said.
However, householders continued to take a cautious approach to
other forms of borrowing.
Repayments on unsecured lending matched the amount of new
borrowing on loans, overdrafts and credit cards.
"The household sector generally is focusing on debt repayment
amid inflated household expenses and a continuing air of
uncertainty, so we see a reluctance to let net borrowing rise, with
people preferring to use their bank account cash for expenditure,"
said BBA statistics director David Dooks.
There was a slight rise in the credit card sector of unsecured
lending. The BBA said that this reflected the increase in
year-on-year spending in the shops at Christmas. Even so,
repayments still outstripped new borrowing on these cards.
Home loans
In the mortgage market, activity remained at the low levels of the
last two years, despite the pick-up in gross mortgage lending in
December.
The number of mortgage approvals for house purchases by the High
Street banks did increase to 36,171 in December compared with
November, although remortgaging did drop back slightly in the same
period.
Over the year as a whole, the number of mortgages approved for
house purchases was very similar to 2010, the BBA said. The number
of approvals for remortgaging was up 3% in 2011 compared with
2010.
The average house purchase value was similar to 2010, at
£145,200, the BBA said.
source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16720476