Mortgage approvals pick up

Published 31st Mar 2011

Mortgage approvals for house purchase rose slightly more than expected in February, official data showed on Tuesday, but money supply growth remained weak.

The Bank of England said mortgage approvals numbered 46,967 in February, above an upwardly revised 46,152 in January and higher than the previous six-month average.

Still, mortgage approvals are still running at around half their long-run average and most economists expect the housing market to remain subdued for the rest of the year.

Consumer credit also picked up last month, rising by 0.8 billion pounds after contracting by 0.3 billion in January. Analysts had forecast another modest contraction.

Money supply figures, however, suggested credit conditions were still far from normal, with aggregate M4 dropping by 0.3 percent on the month and 1.5 percent on the year -- just short of last month's record 1.7 percent annual contraction.

The BoE's preferred gauge of money supply, M4 excluding intermediate other financial corporations fell 0.5 percent on the month, its biggest monthly drop in a year.

Source: ' Reuters '

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