Bank of England Money and Credit – July 2025
September 1, 2025
Key points:
- Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals decreased by £0.9 billion to £4.5 billion in July, compared to a £3.2 billion increase to £5.4 billion of net borrowing in June.
- Net mortgage approvals for house purchases increased by 800 in July, to 65,400. Approvals for remortgaging decreased by 2700 in July, to 38,900.
- Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals rose slightly to £1.6 billion, from £1.5 billion in the previous month. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards slightly increased to £0.8 billion in July, from £0.7 billion in June. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit increased to £0.9 billion in July, from £0.7 billion over the same period.
- The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses increased from 6.7% to 8.0% in July. The annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs increased from 0.3% to 0.9%, the highest since August 2021 (1.3%).
- Private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) borrowed, on net, £0.3 billion of finance in July, following net borrowing of £1.1 billion in June.
- The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was £7.1 billion in July, compared to £11.4 billion in June. Within this, households increased their holdings of money by £7.3 billion. Additionally, PNFCs also increased their holdings of money by £0.5 billion, while NIOFCs decreased holdings by £0.6 billion.
- The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was £7.7 billion in July, compared to £19.9 billion in June. This was driven by increases of £5.2 billion and £3.4 billion in net lending to households and PNFCs respectively, while partly offset by net repayments by NIOFCs of £1.0 billion.
Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark, comments:
“Considering the many twists and turns within the wider economy currently, it’s extremely positive to see a further uplift in mortgage approvals. The resilience of the housing market is often a direct indicator of consumer confidence and affordability, and it has been reassuring to see forward momentum as the year has progressed.
“Hopefully, now that the Bank of England has taken the call to cut the base rate by a further quarter per cent, we should see lenders bringing additional levels of competition to the marketplace. Those already on fixed-term mortgage products should already be feeling the combined benefit of three base rate cuts across the year.”
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