Bank of England Money and Credit Report – March 2025
These monthly statistics on the amount of, and interest rates on, borrowing and deposits by households and businesses are used by the Bank’s policy committees to understand economic trends and developments in the UK banking system.
Key points:
Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased sharply by £9.7 billion to £13.0 billion in March, following a decrease in net borrowing of £1.0 billion to £3.3 billion in February.
Net mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased for the third consecutive month, with a fall of 800 to 64,300 in March. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging increased by 1,000 to 33,400 in March.
Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals was £0.9 billion in March, down from £1.3 billion in the previous month. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards decreased to £0.2 billion in March, the lowest since April 2024 (£0.2 billion). Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit remained unchanged at £0.6 billion in March.
Households’ deposits with banks and building societies increased by £7.4 billion in March, following net deposits of £5.0 billion in March.
Mortgage Lending
Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased sharply by £9.7 billion to £13.0 billion in March, following a decrease in net borrowing of £1.0 billion to £3.3 billion in February. The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending rose from 1.9% to 2.7% in March, the highest since March 2023 (2.7%). Gross lending increased significantly to £39.9 billion in March, from £24.9 billion in February, and was the highest since June 2021 (£42.4 billion). Gross repayments also increased in March, to £23.7 billion from £19.8 billion, the highest level of repayments since October 2022 (£25.9 billion).
Net mortgage approvals (that is, approvals net of cancellations) for house purchases, which is an indicator of future borrowing, decreased for the third consecutive month, with a fall of 800 to 64,300 in March. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) increased by 1,000 to 33,400 in March, following a decrease of 700 in February
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, comments:
“As the global economy continues to react to different events, many people are acutely aware there could be challenges ahead regarding overall affordability when approaching the buying and selling process. We are starting to see more competitive mortgage deals from certain key lenders, but the eligibility criteria in some cases remains tight.
“It remains vital inflation stays on a pathway that keeps it as close to the Bank of England’s initial target of 2 per cent as possible. Although there are hints that we may witness various base rate cuts as the year progresses from international bodies, it remains prevalent to consider such cuts will only happen when conditions permit.”
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