Mortgage approvals at lowest for 18 months
August 31, 2016
According to figures out yesterday from The Bank of England (BoE) the number of mortgages approved by banks and building societies is at its lowest for 18 months.
New mortgages approved in July totalled 60,912 down from 64,512 in June, the lowest total since Januray 2015 and a 12.4% drop in the number of mortgage approvals on the same month a year ago.
The total amount lent out for house purchases was £10.4bn, down from £11.1bn in June.
Remortgaging increased to 43,084 in July, that is up on the average of 41,887 over the previous 6 months.
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