Thursday, Mar 29, 2007
Growth slowing Mervin? Really?
Reuters: Mortgage lending growth picks up unexpectedly
LONDON (Reuters) - Mortgage lending growth accelerated unexpectedly in February and home loan approvals also beat forecasts, suggesting the housing market is holding up despite three interest rate rises since last August.
Posted by rich @ 10:21 AM (179 views) Add Comment
6 Comments
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1. Confused76 said...
Rich, please notice that, although the total level of indebitedness of this country is growing (as your data point out), the number of mortgages approved for house purchases has indeed slowed down... more trouble ahead!
March 27, 2007 (RTTNews) - In the United Kingdom, mortgage approvals for house purchases dropped 5% on year in February, the British Bankers' Association said Tuesday. House purchase approvals totaled 54,659 in February compared to 57,385 last year. In January, mortgage approval for house purchases totaled 42,804. Mortgage approvals for all purposes stood at 167,000. Gross mortgage lending grew to GBP14.9 billion from GBP14.0 billion last year.
2. denzil said...
No real surprise to me in Somerset. Reflects exactly the way the market looks.
Early last week I saw three "For Sale" signs erected and yesterday whilst driving past I noted that all three were "Sale Agreed".
Somerset's nice but not that nice surely?
3. David20040_0 said...
The housing market is not slowing down at all and huge rises in prices are still occurring. Why all these stories are emerging about slowing prices is beyond me probably because there is an MPC decision soon.
4. royston said...
How convenient of them to set their expectations below the actual level, so that they could have some positive news. Standard VI obfuscation technique designed to catch the last few buyers with overinflated prices, before the bust becomes undeniable.
5. confused76 said...
The article at this link explains the situation a bit more in depth.
http://www.forextelevision.com/FT/AFX/ShowStory.jsp?seq=210324
There are signs that the market is cooling:
- mortgage applications/approvals are leading indicator (and they are down vs past quarter) while the total amount borrowed reflects past market activity
- in addition, if you look at just the mortgages that went for actual house purchases (i.e. excluding remortgaging and other secured loan) the numbers are heading down "House purchase approvals totaled 54,659 in February compared to 57,385 last year. In January, mortgage approval for house purchases totaled 42,804. Mortgage approvals for all purposes stood at 167,000", http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/ECONOMIC%20NEWS/519302
6. paul said...
I expect the BBC will latch onto this like a fly on errr ... whatever flies are attarcted to.