Thursday, Oct 29, 2009

Rise in mortgage approvals

BBC: Strong rise in mortgage approvals

"Mortgage approvals rose to the highest level since March 2008 in September, according to the Bank of England. The number of mortgages approved for house purchase, but not yet lent, rose 3,000 during the month to 56,000. Mortgage approvals are a good indicator of short term trends in the property market, and have risen this year in line with recovery in completed sales. According to recent figures from HM Revenue & Customs, sales rose to 82,000 in September, double the number sold in January."

Posted by phdinbubbles @ 10:39 AM (1438 views) Add Comment

14 Comments

1. mark wadsworth said...

"The number of mortgages approved for house purchase, but not yet lent, rose 3,000 during the month to 56,000"

To me, that could be interpreted as "sales taking much longer to complete".

Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:49AM Report Comment
 

2. 51ck-6-51x said...

"While the recent pick-up in property sales seems likely to continue"
- from what evidence are they asserting this expectation?

Thursday, October 29, 2009 10:56AM Report Comment
 

3. Cheekie Charlie said...

"While the recent pick-up in property sales seems likely to continue, other forms of personal borrowing are in decline.
Consumer credit borrowing fell by another £300m in September, after falls of £400m and £300m in August and July respectively.
Within this, credit card borrowing held up, albeit with low levels of growth."
This means those loans which help the miracle economy and jobs are in freefall and people are using credit cards to make ends meet!

Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:02AM Report Comment
 

4. icarus said...

mw @1 - to be fair they are comparing two points in time on the same basis (unless, of course, the reported increase is offset by a reduction in those approvals where the lending has already happened).

666 @2 - why, a straight-line projection of very recent trends of course. Silly you.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 11:54AM Report Comment
 

5. Alan1981 said...

Just face it doomsters, as long as the government can print money, stop repossessions and fix base rates UK homes are never going to get cheaper.

The time to buy was the end of 2008, there were a few 'bargains' to be had then due to the frozen mortgage market...but not now! This summer EAs put prices up 20% almost over night.

Everyone in this retched country is now paying for the housing bubble...and those who don't own see none of the benefits.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:10PM Report Comment
 

6. will said...

Either desperate or foolish.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:25PM Report Comment
 

7. ontheotherhand said...

If the increase from 53,000 to 56,000 is a strong rise, I presume the industry will not be calling out for any future support or intervention?

Thursday, October 29, 2009 12:31PM Report Comment
 

8. jack c said...

A 6% increase in approvals (no guarantee they will go to completion) hardly constitutes (IMO) a "strong rise" - particularly when you consider the levels to which approvals have fallen. If you couple this with the lowest Bank Base rate in history and the huge amount of government support I really think the BBC could have come up with a different headline.

As for the "leap" of £0.90bn net lending - this might have some influence? - "City bonuses paid to traders at investment banks have triggered a rise in demand for £1m plus mortgages, according to wealth manager HFM Columbus. HFM Columbus says that following a flat period at the top end of the market, the return of controversial City bonuses has triggered a renewed round of activity for seven figure property loans. The company says that most of the demand for high-end mortgages is for properties in London and the Home Counties"

Full story @ www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/demand-for-£1m-plus-mortgages-buoyed-by-city-bonuses/1001040.article

Thursday, October 29, 2009 01:14PM Report Comment
 

9. str 2007 said...

Just so I can be clear. this figure of 56,00 is the same figure that used to be 120,000 per month and dipped down to about 25,000 per month ?

Thursday, October 29, 2009 02:13PM Report Comment
 

10. jack c said...

@str 2007 - now lets be fair the precise number of approvals for September was 56,215 (LOL)

I'll let you double check the figures but I'm reasonably sure from memory that approvals went as low as 18,000

Thursday, October 29, 2009 02:51PM Report Comment
 

11. timmy t said...

Jack C and STR - according to the graphs page on hpc, peak was 134000 and trough was 27000 which puts "strong rise" into context.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 03:28PM Report Comment
 

12. jack c said...

timmy t - thanks for that - I suspect I must have a low in my head which excluded re-mortgages.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 03:34PM Report Comment
 

13. str 2007 said...

Cheers for that.

56k, along way short of what you tink would push prices forward and upward.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 06:58PM Report Comment
 

14. jack c said...

str 2007 - I think (just my opinion) that the low volumes are giving a distorted picture. I know down in Hampshire you implied there had been a bit of a frenzy - quite the reverse up here in the North where prices have officially gone backwards for 8 consequitive months.

Thursday, October 29, 2009 07:12PM Report Comment
 

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