Mortgage lending falls to lowest level since 2021

Mortgage lending dropped to the lowest level since the summer of 2021 in February, according to the Bank of England.

The Bank’s figures showed that net mortgage lending to individuals decreased from £2 billion to £0.7 billion, though net mortgage approvals for house purchases increased from 39,600 to 43,500 month-on-month. In addition, the ‘effective’ interest rate – the actual interest rate paid – on newly drawn mortgages jumped by 0.36 percent to 4.2 percent.

Meanwhile, individuals borrowed an extra £1.4 billion in consumer credit. This was divided between £0.6 billion of borrowing on credit cards and £0.8 billion of borrowing through other forms of consumer credit.

The news came just hours after it was revealed that the number of available rental properties in the UK decreased by a third in the past 18 months.

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