UK mortgage approvals unexpectedly rose in October - Bank of England

According to the report from Bank of England, the mortgage market remained strong in October. On net, households borrowed an additional £4.3 billion secured on their homes, following borrowing of £4.9 billion in September. The continued strength in borrowing follows high levels of mortgage approvals for house purchase seen over recent months. Mortgage borrowing troughed at £0.2 billion in April, but has since recovered and is slightly higher than the average of £3.9 billion in the six months to February 2020.

The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase continued increasing in October, to 97,500 from 92,100 in September. This was the highest number of approvals since September 2007, 33% higher than approvals in February 2020 and around 10 times higher than the trough of 9,400 approvals in May. Approvals for remortgage (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) were broadly unchanged in October, at 32,900, and remain around 40% lower than in February 2020.

Consumer credit remained weak in October, with households making net repayments of £0.6 billion. Effective rates on new personal loans increased by 37 basis points to 5.15%.

Private corporates borrowed £7.8 billion from capital markets in October but this was broadly offset by a net repayment of bank loans.

Overall, household and business deposits were strong in October, at £12.3 billion and £13.0 billion respectively. Deposit interest rates remain at historically low levels.