Mortgage approvals drop in April, says BoE
Mortgage approvals dropped again in April, hitting their lowest level in a year, according to official figures out today.
The Bank of England report showed approvals slipped to 107,000 last month from a downwardly revised 112,000 in March and well below the 118,000 seen in January.
Economists had been expecting a read of 110,000, the third monthly decrease in a row.
There was also a weaker than forecast rise in mortgage lending to £8.932bn, the worst performance since September last year, suggesting recent interest rate hikes are beginning to bite.
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Borrowing costs have risen four times since last August to 5.5% and are widely tipped to hit 5.75% soon, maybe rising to 6% before the end of the year, experts say.
In addition, total lending to individuals was £9.4bn, said the central bank, down from £10.1bn a month earlier.
A report from Nationwide this morning showed house prices in Britain rose 0.5% in May, bringing the annual inflation rate to 10.3%.
May's monthly increase was lower than April 0.9%, said the building society, but the increase does bring the annual increase to a five month high. The annual rate in April was 10.2%.
