Last week the Bank of England released the figures for the number of mortgage approvals in November 2011.
In broad terms between August and November there was only a month on month marginal change for mover mortgages with the lowest month being September with 51,231 approvals for house purchases and November being the highest with 52,854.
These figures still remain below half of the peak of the market however many firms reported a stable market right up to Christmas in terms of conveyancing completions. A decline in mortgage approvals would have only added to conveyancers gloom.
The Building Society Association reported a 16% increase in the number of mortgage advances its members made in the first 11 months of 2011 and may indicate an improvement in the capital positions of Building Societies and their desire to continue to help people fund house purchases.
Adrian Coles, Director General of the Building Society Association said “Mutuals have shown their resilience in the face of tough market conditions over the past year and have continued to see their new mortgage lending increase…”
The Bank reported remortgages declining from over 34,000 in each months between August and October to just over 31,000 in November. This represented a fall of 9% month on month but figures did remain higher than the beginning of 2011.
The outlook remains bleak with The Mortgage Introducer quoting a source from The Bank as saying: “Although lenders expected a small increase in overall credit availability in the coming three months, factors such as the economic outlook and tighter wholesale funding conditions were expected to impact negatively on credit availability.
“Lenders commented that developments in the euro area and their impact on banks’ funding conditions would be a key determinant of credit availability over the coming quarter.”
