The figures showed:
- August’s gross mortgage lending was a record £20.9bn, some 9 per cent higher than July, and 24 per cent higher than the £16.8bn in August last year.
- Underlying net mortgage lending (gross lending minus repayments and redemptions) rose by £6.2bn, compared with £5.8bn in July, an average of £5.4bn over recent months and £4.6bn in August 2005.
- There were 184,557 mortgage approvals (for all purposes) in August, with an aggregate value of £19.1bn. This number of approvals was 5 per cent lower than in August 2005, though their value was 4 per cent higher. The average loan approved for house purchase was £141,500, some 8 per cent higher than a year earlier.
David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA, said: “Record gross and net mortgage lending is a reflection of house prices and mix of loans, rather than increased volumes. Compared to the numbers of secured loans approved at the same time in previous years, August shows robust and stable demand orientated towards house purchase rather than for other purposes, though below the volumes seen in 2003."
The August increase of £6,165mn in seasonally adjusted net lending leaves the annualised rate of growth unchanged at 13 per cent.
Compared to the same month a year earlier, August’s loan approvals for house purchase were 3 per cent higher by number and 11 per cent higher by value. Remortgaging approvals were 12 per cent lower by number and 4 per cent lower by value and approvals for equity withdrawal were 6 per cent lower by number but 3 per cent higher by value.
