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May remortgage figures nudge six-month trend downwards – BBA
Mortgage providers report that May saw remortgaging approvals of 24,248, which is a fall of 10% against last year and below the six-monthly trend of 26,494.
The British Bankers’ Association reported house purchase approval numbers in May of 40,347 at 3.3% lower than May 2016 and slightly down on the monthly average of 41,923 over the previous half-year.
Gross mortgage borrowing in May totalled £13.3bn much in line with recent months and 9% higher than a year before.
Net mortgage borrowing in May was 2.4% higher than a year ago, said the trade body which is one of the six bodies, which includes the CML to merge into a single trade association UK Finance at the end of this month.
Consumer credit annual growth was 5.1% in May, compared with 6.4% in April. The decline in May was driven by weaker growth in personal loans and overdrafts with annual growth falling from 6.3% to 4.8%, while growth in credit card borrowing also slowed from 6.4% to 5.5% reflecting weaker retail sale volumes in May.
Annual house price growth has also dropped to a rate of just 3.3%, according to the May Halifax house price index.
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Prices increased by 0.4% in May according to Halifax, to take the average house price to £220,706. However, over the quarter prices have fallen by 0.2%, while annual house price growth is now markedly lower than the 10% rate seen in March last year.