Mortgage approvals jump in April
THE NUMBER of mortgage approvals granted for new homes in April shot up at its fastest rate since 2009, but lending to firms is struggling to gain momentum.
There were 68,076 mortgages granted for house purchase in April, the Bank of England said yesterday. It marked a 9.9 per cent jump on March’s 61,945.
“One year after the Mortgage Market Review (MMR), today’s Bank of England’s data suggests there is much greater confidence in the mortgage market, with all types of mortgage approvals during April considerably above the average for the previous six months,” said Brian Murphy, head of lending at Mortgage Advice Bureau.
The MMR was a stricter set of rules placed on mortgage providers.
But lending to non-financial businesses is declining, with outstanding business loans contracting 0.4 per cent year-on-year to £435bn. Lending to small- and medium sized enterprises fell 0.8 per cent year-on-year.
“Despite April’s dip, there does appear to have been underlying improvement in bank lending to businesses so far in 2015. It is also very possible that companies’ appetite for credit in April was limited by increased caution just ahead of the general election,” said economist Howard Archer from analysts IHS.