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Mortgage approvals up for first time since April

Wednesday, 5 January 2011 4:08 PM

The number of mortgages approved for UK house purchases rose in November 2010 for the first time since April, according to the latest Bank of England figures.

In total, 48,019 home loans were rubber-stamped for those buying a property during the month - a modest increase from the 47,315 approvals in October.

The slight rise ends six consecutive months of declining mortgage approvals, though the total figure is still significantly lower than the 70,000 consistent with a stable housing market.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist for IHS Global Insight, commented: "While the Bank of England data show that mortgage approvals edged up in November, they remained at a very weak level.

"The modest increase does little to dilute our belief that house prices will remain under downward pressure in the early months of 2011 at least," he added.

A rise in the number of households remortgaging was also noted, with the total figure increasing for a fifth successive month, to 34,262.

However, net mortgage lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, slid rapidly from 1.17 billion in October to 788 million in November.

Meanwhile, unsecured borrowing fell by 121 million during the month, as families continued focusing on debt repayment rather than spending.
 

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