Mortgage Approvals Hold Steady in April, According to Bank of England
The latest Money and Credit report from the Bank of England has revealed that net mortgage approvals for house purchases remained steady in April, with 61,100 approvals recorded. This figure is only slightly down from the 61,300 approvals seen in March.
Image: UK housing market
The report also showed that net approvals for remortgaging decreased to 29,900, down from 33,500 in the previous month. Meanwhile, individuals borrowed a net total of £2.4 billion in mortgage debt during the month, compared to £0.5 billion in March.
The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending rose for the first time since October 2022, reaching 0.2% in April. Gross lending also saw a slight increase, rising to £20.6 billion from £20.5 billion.
“According to new statistics from the Bank of England, despite April usually being a relatively busy month for the property market, net mortgage approvals for house purchases totalled 61,100 in April, marginally less than in March.” - Karen Noye, mortgage expert at Quilter
Mortgage approvals
The report also highlighted that UK non-financial businesses repaid a net total of £1.1 billion in loans to banks and building societies in April. The net flow of sterling money, known as M4ex, was £10.3 billion in April, driven mainly by households’ holdings of money, which increased by £8.4 billion.
“It is important to remember that today’s figures come off the back of six months’ of growth in mortgage approvals.” - Holly Andrews, intermediary team manager at Saffron for Intermediaries
Household savings
The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) decreased to £1.2 billion throughout the month, mainly driven by a decrease in net lending to non-intermediate other financial corporations (NIOFCs) to a flow of -£1.0 billion from £9.8 billion in March.
Industry experts have reacted to the news, with Alistair Singer, director of My Home Move Conveyancing, stating that “another strong month of mortgage approvals demonstrates that buyer confidence is building despite the fact that interest rates are yet to come down.”
“Current market performance indicates that the mortgage sector is set for a strong year following a period of muted activity spurred by higher interest rates.” - Jonathan Samuels, CEO of Octane Capital
Mortgage sector
Jason Ferrando, founder and CEO of easyMoney, added that “mortgage market momentum continues to build and the outlook for the property market as a whole is certainly one of far greater positivity compared to much of last year.”
Colby Short, co-founder and CEO of GetAgent.co.uk, concluded that “property market optimism is at a high and such consistently strong mortgage approval levels will only add fuel to the fire as buyer activity continues to strengthen.”
Property market
