UK Mortgage Approvals Lowest Since Late 2023

(RTTNews) - UK mortgage approvals fell to the lowest since late 2023 in May, the Bank of England said Monday.

The number of loans approved for house purchases decreased to 56,205 from 66,034 in April. This was the lowest level since December 2023 and remained well below the expected level of 63,000.

The 'effective' interest rate, which is the actual interest paid on newly drawn mortgages increased to 4.22 percent in May from 4.08 percent in the previous month.

Data showed that consumer credit remained largely unchanged at GBP 1.7 billion in May. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards fell to GBP 0.6 billion from GBP 0.8 billion. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit rose to GBP 1.1 billion from GBP 0.9 billion.

Annual growth in consumer credit improved to 8.9 percent from 8.7 percent in the previous month.

Further, non-financial businesses borrowed GBP 1.2 billion compared to a net borrowing of GBP 5.1 billion in April.

Large non-financial businesses borrowed GBP 1.3 billion, following net borrowing of GBP 3.9 billion in April. Small and medium-sized non-financial businesses repaid, GBP 0.1 billion in May, following a net borrowing of GBP 1.2 billion in April.