UK Finance’s Household Finance Update showed that high street banks accounted for £16bn of this, a 10.8 per cent increase on the same period the year before.
Mortgage approvals for home purchases by the main high street banks increased by 6.8 per cent to 43,589, while remortgage approvals came to 34,653 – 12.7 per cent higher year-on-year.
Approvals a sign of consumer resilience
Jonathan Samuels, CEO of Octane Capital, said: “The fact that both mortgage approvals and remortgage approvals were up on November last year showed a real resilience among homeowners and buyers.
“The General Election that overshadowed November was the most crucial for generations and yet a lot of people still got on with their lives.
“A growing indifference to Brexit was one likely driver but so, too, was the worry among prospective buyers that prices may rebound sharply during 2020. For first time buyers, prices rebounding is a particular cause for concern.”
Andrew Montlake, managing director of Coreco, added: “For a lot of British households, November was a classic case of better the devil you know.
“They chose to get their houses in order and secure a mortgage before a potentially disruptive election result. January will be the real test of consumer sentiment as we approach our departure from the EU.
“While we are expecting an uplift in transactions and remortgages, it would be premature to assume that 2020 will be a boom year for the property and mortgage markets.”
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, said: “The willingness of homemovers to take on more debt demonstrates resilience once again, as well as an enthusiasm to take advantage of improving affordability, despite significant political and seasonal distractions.
“Looking forward, we don’t expect house prices to rise substantially but larger movements are likely to be seen in areas where the ratio of house prices to earnings is low.”
