New figures from UK Finance have revealed that mortgage approvals fell to 39,600 in July, down from 40,300 in June, as the UK housing market continued to show signs of slowing down. Total mortgage lending, however, rose in July to £24.6bn – a rise of 7.6% on the same month last year. UK Finance suggested the growth was driven by homeowners remortgaging to take advantage of ultra-low interest rates. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said mortgage approvals were set to remain low for the rest of the year. “Approvals likely will languish at their current low level, given that the new buyer enquiries balance of the RICS Residential Market Survey remained close to zero in July”, he said.
The Independent (24/08/2018) The Guardian (24/08/2018) Financial Times (24/08/2018)