The Bank of England has revealed that
mortgage approvals are at its highest level since June last year, echoing findings published by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) last week.
Mortgage
lenders approved 107,000 new
mortgages last month, the Bank of England figures show.
The total value of new mortgages approved went up to £7.7 billion, bringing the total value of mortgage approvals up to £27 billion.
Last month,
mortgage lenders approved 193,031 mortgage deals, the BBA found. This figure is two per cent higher than the amount of mortgages approved in August.
The BBA's director of statistics, David Dooks, believes that people who wanted to
remortgage their properties boosted mortgage figures.
He explains that more people are looking to
find a remortgage now as the two-year fixed rate mortgages taken out during the "buoyant" period of 2003 are maturing, so mortgage holders are "seeking out new options".
The BBA described consumer borrowing as "subdued", as net lending on
credit cards has risen by what it describes as a "modest" £0.1 billion.
The Bank of England's figures are similar, as it seems like people seem to be more reluctant to take out
personal loans and
credit cards.
An annual growth rate of 10.9 per cent has been reported for
applications for
unsecured personal loans, which is the slowest growth rate since November 1994, the Bank of England says.
