Increase in mortgage approvals recorded during February

April 10, 2020 by Heidi

Property Market

The latest figures to be released by the Bank of England reveal that the number of homebuyer mortgages that were approved by lenders during February rose once more.

The total number of these loans that were approved throughout February was 73,500, compared with the figure of 70,900 for January. The Bank of England is stating that the February total is a six-year high, suggesting real improvement in this area of the mortgage market. Furthermore, there was also a rise in the number of remortgage approvals in February, with the total number of these being 53,400.

The net figure for home mortgage borrowing in February was the same as that of the previous month, which is £4bn, a sum that remained near the £4.1bn six-month average, while mortgage borrowing levels grew to 3.5% for the past year.

Speaking to Mortgage Finance Gazette, Knight Frank Finance managing partner Simon Gammon said that loans agreed following the election last December accounted for the good February figures, before adding:

“Lending will be suppressed over the coming months, particularly for house purchase, while restrictions on movement remain in place and surveyors are unable to visit properties to carry out valuations.”

He concluded by saying that mortgage lenders were still keen to agree loans and that the cuts to interest rates made by the Bank of England were fuelling remortgage demand among borrowers.

The fact that large areas of the mortgage sector continue to look healthy is great news for emerging advisors who have finished their CeMAP training.