Mortgage approvals have increased for the third consecutive month; a sign being taken as good news for the housing market.
According to recent figures from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), the figures for February shows just over 28,000 mortgage approvals in comparison to 24,000 in January. These figures are still around 30 per cent fewer than twelve months ago.
The BBA has cited a growing market share in mortgage loans by the major banks as one of the key reasons for this growth.
BBA statistics director, David Dooks, said:
“Most new mortgage lending is being done by the High Street banks, but demand is, of course, being moderated by the impacts of the recession.”
As our article yesterday showed, mortgage repayments are now much cheaper for thousands of people thanks to the fall in interest rates from the Bank of England, as the base interest rate currently stands at just 0.5 per cent.
Figures from the BBA also reflect the impact upon savers, who have seen a decrease in return from their savings and have withdrawn savings from the major banks. The figures showed a decrease in personal deposits for the second month in a row.
