Financial News: UK Mortgage Approvals At 2-Year Low

UK Mortgage Approvals At 2-Year Low

03/02/2026 - 06:33:00 (RTTNews)

(RTTNews) - UK mortgage approvals declined to a two-year low in January, while consumer credit logged a faster increase, data from the Bank of England showed Monday.

Net mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased unexpectedly to 59,999 in January from 61,007 in December. The number was forecast to rise to 62,000.

The 'effective' interest rate, which is the actual interest paid on newly drawn mortgages, decreased to 4.09 percent in January from 4.15 percent in December.

Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals decreased to GBP 4.1 billion in January from GBP 4.5 billion in December.

Meanwhile, secured gross lending increased slightly to GBP 23.4 billion from GBP 23.0 billion in December.

Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals increased to GBP 1.8 billion in January from GBP 1.7 billion in December.

Within this, net borrowing through credit cards was GBP 0.9 billion in January, up from GBP 0.8 billion in December. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit remained unchanged at GBP 0.9 billion in January.

The annual growth rate for all consumer credit remained unchanged at 8.3 percent in January.

UK businesses borrowed a net GBP 7.9 billion in January compared to a GBP 1.1 billion net borrowing in December. Within this, large businesses borrowed GBP 7.5 billion and small and medium-sized businesses borrowed GBP 0.4 billion.

The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses increased to 9.4 percent from 7.7 percent in December. At the same time, the annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs rose slightly to 2.4 percent from 2.2 percent a month ago.

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