Fresh home loan approvals sink close to decade-low
The number of fresh mortgages approved for house purchase by the big UK banks remained close to a decade-low in January, industry figures revealed yesterday, reinforcing economists’ forecasts of significant falls in house prices this year.
Figures from the British Bankers’ Association showed the number of fresh home-loan approvals in January was down 31% on the same month of 2007 at 44,288.
This was up marginally from the December number of 42,343, but this figure had been the weakest since comparable records began with the formation in September 1997 of the “Major British Banking Groups” constituency following conversion of the larger building societies. The BBA numbers are adjusted for seasonal factors.