Marginal rise in Mortgage approvals in January, reports BBA

Posted under General by Jermaine

The British Bankers’ Association has revealed slight increase in number of mortgage approvals in month of January.

BBA reported that banks had sanctioned 23,376 mortgages in January, the highest number in last four months and up from 22,416 that were approved in December 2008. But the number is still less by 43% when compared with January 2008. 

Net amount of lending, which strips out repayments and redemptions, was down to £2.9bn in January, from £3.3bn in December, nearly at 50% of level witnessed in January 2008.

BBA stated that approval activity, both by value and volume, was marginally higher than in December, but continued to remain at a very low level.

However, David Dooks of BBA appeared positive about lending figures and expressed confidence that mortgage lending by the High Street banks would achieve double-digit annual growth, in much slower market.

Re-mortgaging also witnessed slight improvement with January figure going up to 30,710 from 30,500 in December.

As per findings of the recent survey by the Intermediary Mortgage Lenders Association, 58% of first-time buyers were unable to enter property market and only those with hefty deposit could succeed in getting onto the property ladder.

However, the move by the Northern Rock bank to offer mortgage loans up to 90% of property’s value is likely to result in increase in lending approvals.

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