- Gross mortgage lending was £16.0bn in July. This was slightly lower than June and 11% lower than in July 2004.
- Seasonally adjusted net mortgage lending (gross lending minus repayments and redemptions) rose by £3.7bn, compared with £4.7bn in June and £5.0bn in July 2004. This smaller increase compares with an average of £4.4bn over the previous six months.
- There were 181,933 mortgage approvals (for all purposes) in July, with a total value of £17.1bn. The number of approvals was 7% lower than June and 17% weaker than July 2004. The average approval for house purchase was £132,700.
- Lending on loans and overdrafts rose by £0.3bn, having been virtually flat in June, compared with an average increase of +£0.5bn in the previous six months. Borrowing on credit cards, at +£0.1bn, was subdued, much in line with the recent trend.
David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, said:
"July’s rise in net mortgage lending was the weakest since December 2001 but the weakness resulted largely from higher than usual levels of redemptions, particularly relating to maturing fixed rate loans. Together with relatively slow approvals, it reiterates the subdued mortgage environment of late.
More cautious consumer sentiment, in line with reports of weaker retail sales, was also reflected in lower demand for personal loans and very modest credit card borrowing"
Mortgage Lending
- July’s gross lending of £16,042mn was slightly lower than June’s total of £16,475mn, but noticeably lower (-11%) than £18,106mn in July 2004.
- Net mortgage lending rose by £3,745mn, compared with £4,670mn in June. The July rise was well down on the average of +£4,435mn in the previous six months leaving the annual growth rate hovering around 12%; the lowest growth rate since February 2002.
- Compared to the same month a year earlier, July’s approvals of house purchase loans were 6% lower by number but 9% higher by value; remortgaging loans were 9% lower by number but 5% higher by value; and equity withdrawal loans were 25% lower by number and also 17% lower by value.
Consumer Credit
- New borrowing on credit cards totalled £7,191mn in July. This was 4% lower than the previous month while repayments were 3% lower; the seasonally adjusted rise in net lending of +£123mn compared with a recent average of +£152mn.
- New lending on personal loans and overdrafts, though above the average for the previous six months, at £1,647mn, was well down on June and, after seasonal adjustment, there was only a small rise in net lending of £268mn.
