BoE: Mortgage borrowing remains stable

Annual growth rates have remained at the same level for the past three years.

BoE: Mortgage borrowing remains stable

Net mortgage borrowing by households remained stable in September at £3.8bn, according to the Bank of England's Money and Credit statistics.

The annual growth rate remained unchanged at 3.2% having remained close to this figure for the past three years.

Mortgage approvals for house purchase were also stable in September at 66,000, whilst mortgage approvals for remortgage strengthened to 49,000.

Borrowing from banks rose to £2.9bn whilst the annual growth rate rose to 3.9%.

Vikki Jefferies, proposition director at PRIMIS, said: “Although September did not see any major leaps or bounds in terms of mortgage lending, market activity remained steady.

"Lenders continue to offer attractive deals and advisers remain on hand to provide clients with the support they’re looking for.

"As a result, consumer confidence in the mortgage market is still strong – no mean feat considering the wider economic turbulence."

Andrew Montlake, managing director at Coreco, added: “Amid the mayhem, mortgage approvals are holding up exceptionally well.

“Mortgage approvals could rise further given the new affordability guidelines for mortgage prisoners published by the FCA this week.

“Remortgages, as ever, are surging as people batten down the hatches to ride out the potential storm ahead."

In terms of consumer credit, net credit card borrowing weakened to its lowest level since December 2018 at £0.1bn.

Borrowing from banks also increased in September, rising to £2.9 billion, and the annual growth rate rose to 3.9%.