Mortgage approvals drop

New figures from UK Finance have shown that the number of mortgages approved by the major High Street banks has fallen amid fears of a stagnant housing market. A total of 80,127 loans were handed out in November - down 10.6% on a year earlier. The amount lent dropped 2% to £23.1bn. The average property now costs £231,095, up 2.7% in a year - the smallest increase since July 2013. However, despite the downturn, November saw the first year-on-year rise since September 2017 - up by 0.2% from last year.

Daily Mail (28/12/2018) The Times (28/12/2018)