Mortgage approvals rose in March, says BoE
By myfinances.co.uk staff
The number of loans approved for property purchase increased from 46,882 in February to 48,901 in March, official figures show.
According to the statistics published by the Bank of England, this was below the average number of mortgage approvals for the previous six months, which stood at 54,201 deals.
The combined value of new loans granted to home buyers was £6.6 billion, up from £6.3 billion in February and level with January.
However, this was also below the average figure for the past six months of £7.4 billion.
The number of remortgaging agreements given the green light during March stood at 27,880, up from 27,257 in February and above the six-month average of 25,853.
Collectively, these deals were worth a total of £3.7 billion, up from £3.6 billion in February and higher than the average of £3.3 billion for the previous six months.
The Bank's figures come after the Council for Mortgage Lenders, which represents banks, building societies and other finance providers, said that gross mortgage lending had hit an estimated £11.5 billion in March.
This was up 24 per cent on the figure of £9.3 billion recorded in February.
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