The number of mortgages approved by banks is a third higher than a year ago as the housing market revival continues to gather pace.
Some 37,200
approvals for house purchases worth a total of £5.7billion got the green
light in July, the British Bankers’ Association reported.
This was only slightly down on a 17-month high of 37,337 the previous month.
The BBA said the “stronger pattern” seen in the mortgage market since the start of the year has continued into the summer.
Mortgage
approvals to home buyers are 31 per cent higher than in the same period
last year and re-mortgaging approvals are 40 per cent higher.
However, overall mortgage lending remains “subdued” because homeowners are making high repayments on their loans, the BBA said.
Various Government schemes to boost the housing market mean several mortgage lenders have been offering their lowest ever rates.
With poor returns
generally on offer on savings, this has made it more attractive for
people to use any spare cash to pay down their mortgage debt.
BBA
statistics director David Dooks said: “Mortgage activity has
strengthened during 2013 with the help of Government schemes. But high
repayments and redemptions mean that we are not seeing increases in net
mortgage borrowing for the high street banks.”
Jonathan
Harris, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, said that despite
the uplift in activity, house sales are still far lower than they were
at the height of the boom years.
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