Mortgage approvals hit four year high

UK banks approved 70,900 mortgages in January, according to the Bank of England, up 4.4% from December’s 67,930 figure to the highest number in four years. Remortgaging approvals were also up by 3.9%, to around 52,100. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: “As a result, we now think that the Bank of England will cut bank rates to 0.5% this month, from 0.75%. The recovery in approvals likely has further to run.”

The Daily Telegraph (02/03/2020)