Mortgage lending and consumer credit in line with recent averages

Following last week’s release of MBBG net lending figures for April (subsequently revised), further information now available on lending to individuals shows that:

April’s gross mortgage lending of £15.5bn was 10% above April last year but 4% lower than April two years ago.

Seasonally adjusted underlying net mortgage lending (gross lending minus repayments and redemptions) rose by £5.0bn, compared with £5.5bn in March, £4.2bn in April 2005 and an average of £5.0bn over recent months.

There were 169,330 mortgage approvals (for all purposes) in April, with a total value of £17.4bn. This number of approvals was 22% lower than in March and 12% lower than in April 2005.

However, approvals data are related to the number of working days in a month and as there were 23 working days in March and only 18 in April, these comparisons are somewhat distorted. The average approval for house purchase rose in April, to £140,400, some 9% higher than a year earlier.

Net lending on loans and overdrafts rose by £0.2bn in April (revised up from no change), reversing the fall of £0.2bn in March and comparing with an average rise in the previous six months of +£0.3bn, whilst net lending on credit cards rose, by £0.1bn (revised down from £0.3bn), compared with a fall of £0.2bn in March and a recent average increase of £0.1bn.