The British Bankers Association which represents the main high street banking groups which account for 2/3 of all UK mortgage lending outstanding have reported their monthly mortgage approvals figures.
The banks included in the survey are Santander UK, Barclays, Bradford and Bingley lending, HSBC Bank, Lloyds Banking Group, Northern Rock and the Royal Bank of Scotland.
On a seasonally adjusted basis the number of house purchase mortgage approvals increased by just over 700 mortgages to 36,709 still below the six month average of 38,314. Remortgages declined marginally to 21,229 which was nearly 5% below the 6 month average.
BBA statistics director, David Dooks said “The low interest rate environment is resulting in customers choosing to reduce or pay off borrowing..”
Annual growth of net mortgage lending remained unchanged at 4.3% even though repayment levels were above normal trends.
Interestingly high street banks have increased their market share of lending from 55% three years ago to 70% now.
