Mortgage approvals booming

British lenders approved 65,619 mortgages in June, up 1.5% from 64,684 in May, according to data from the Bank of England (BoE), a five-month high. Remortgage approvals fell from 51,669 to 47,895 however, while approvals for house purchases were down 0.2% year-on-year. Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said: "There seems little evidence that the cutting of stamp duty for first-time buyers in last November’s Budget has provided a significant boost to housing market activity."

City AM (30/07/2018)   The Daily Telegraph (30/07/2018)