British Bankers report subdued Mortgage activity in April

windows of houses in april

The British Bankers Organisation reports today that “Overall lending to companies remains subdued, although the annual rate of contraction appears to have bottomed out.”

The annual growth in the Banks’ net mortgage lending of 4.3% for April is a slight fall on the previous month’s 4.5%.  This comfortably exceeds the annual growth of just 1% to March for the mortgage market overall.

It was stated that the Banks are showing a continuation of borrowers and households “paying down” or reducing their debts.  This bodes well for the long term but holds back immediate growth.

The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase was up to 35,729 for April 2010.  This is 685 up on March 2010, but below the last six months’ average prior to April of 39,309.

Any slightly more subdued activity throughout this period could be interpreted as a distortion caused by the uncertainty of the outcome of the general election.

Date 26 May 2010