Financial News: UK Mortgage Approvals At 3-Month High

UK Mortgage Approvals At 3-Month High

(RTTNews) - UK mortgage approvals increased to three-month high in February and consumer credit rose the most in nearly two years, data from the Bank of England showed Monday.

Net mortgage approvals for house purchases increased to 62,600 in February from 60,200 in January. Approvals were expected to rise moderately to 61,000.

The 'effective' interest rate, which is the actual interest paid on newly drawn mortgages slightly climbed to 4.10 percent from 4.09 percent in January.

Data showed that net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased to GBP 4.8 billion from GBP 4.2 billion in the previous month. Consumer credit rose slightly to GBP 1.9 billion in February from GBP 1.8 billion in January. On a yearly basis, consumer credit moved up 8.5 percent, the fastest since March 2024.

Within total consumer credit, net borrowing through credit cards fell to GBP 0.8 billion from GBP 0.9 billion in the prior month. Meanwhile, net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit rose to GBP 1.2 billion from GBP 0.9 billion in January.

In February, businesses borrowed GBP 3.7 billion of loans from banks and building societies, following GBP 8.0 billion of net borrowing in January.

Borrowing by large businesses increased 10.4 percent in February, faster than the 9.4 percent rise in January. At the same time, the annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs increased to 2.8 percent from 2.4 percent in the prior period.

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