New data from the Bank of England shows that new house purchase mortgage approvals rose by 2.3% to 62,000 in July, the highest figure in almost two years.
According to the central bank’s latest Money and Credit report, approvals last reached hits kind of level in September 2022 when approvals hit the 65,100 mark.
However, remortgage approvals fell to 25,100 last month (8.1%) from June, a downward trend that has continued since March.
The BoE study also states that consumer mortgage increased by 7.7% to £2.8bn in July – the highest since November 2022, when borrowing reached £3.3bn.
The growth trend for the annual growth rate for net mortgage lending also continued, rising to 0.6% in July, after increasing to 0.5% in June.
Gross lending fell to £19.6bn last month from £20.5bn in June, while gross repayments declined by £0.9bn over the same period, to £17.4bn.
Bluestone Mortgages strategy director Ryan Davies says: “Today’s mortgage approvals suggest that consumer confidence remains buoyant.
“At a time when interest rates have finally fallen from their 16-year historic high and lenders are ramping up the competition to drop their rates, we expect to see demand continue into the latter half of this year.”
Octane Capital chief executive Jonathan Samuels adds: “Revised figures show that we’ve now seen two consecutive months of positive growth where mortgage approvals are concerned and this is in addition to the fact that monthly mortgage approvals have remained above the 60,000 threshold since February of this year.
“This suggests a property market that is very much on the up and we expect this outlook to only improve further following the Bank of England’s decision to cut interest rates for the first time in four years.
“While the reduction itself may have been marginal at 0.25%, it’s likely to act as a floodgate moment for the housing market, with more buyers looking to make their move as the monthly cost of a mortgage continues to ease.”
