Mortgage News
Approvals soar to two-year high
The housing market continues to show signs of a recovery, following statistics from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) which show mortgage approvals in October soared to their highest level since January 2008.
The trade body revealed that 42,238 mortgages were granted by the main high street banks in October, up from 42,073 in September and up by 98% compared to October last year.
However the number of remortgage approvals remained subdued, falling by 1.7% from 21,054 in September to 20,685 in October.
Gross mortgage lending rose to £9bn from £8.9bn in September while net mortgage lending remained at £3.1bn, the same figure as in September.
Rick Salmon, statistics officer at the BBA, said the figures showed that the market was entering a steady phase, following the significant lows in approvals that were recorded in 2008.
He added: “Approvals and lending seem to have hit a consistent level in recent months and are beginning to stabilise. This shows that banks are continuing to lend at reasonable levels.”
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Darren Cohen, mortgage consultant at broker LRG, said that although the market was stuttering back into life, it had a long way to go before it could be described as normal.
He said: “Although lending and mortgage approvals have increased, there is no reason to get carried away. The signs of recovery are fragile and 2010 will be a difficult year.”