Building society gross advances amounted to just £4,341m in August 2007 – this is a £1,241m drop when compared to the £5,582m seen just twelve months previously.
Year on year net advances are also down to £656m from £2,190m in 2006, while approvals dipped to £4,168m from £5,540m.
However building societies had net receipts of £1,389m in August 2007 compared to net receipts of £399m in August 2006, and net receipts to cash ISAs were £124m in August 2007, compared to £150m in August 2006.
Adrian Coles, Director-General of the BSA said: “These figures confirm the slowdown in building society lending over the summer, as a combination of higher interest rates and robust lending criteria continued to bite.”
“Building society net receipts in August were nearly double those in July. This is the highest August figure ever and the highest monthly figure since April 2005.
“We believe that successive increases in interest rates and subdued equity markets have encouraged savers to put more money away, and we expect this to continue while rates remain high and savers recognise the wide range of good value building society savings products available to them.”
