Purchase approvals hit post-2022 high, remortgage surge holds

The Bank of England published its Money and Credit statistics for April 2026 this morning, and for brokers navigating one of the more turbulent rate environments in recent memory, the figures contain both cause for measured optimism and a clear warning about the direction of borrowing costs. 

The headline is purchase approvals. Net mortgage approvals for house purchases — the Bank's own indicator of future borrowing — rose to 65,900 in April, up from 64,000 in March, and comfortably above the six-month average of around 63,100. It is the strongest purchase approval figure since before the mini-Budget shock of October 2022 reshaped the market, and it arrives in a month when the effective interest rate on newly drawn mortgages moved higher, not lower. 

That combination — more buyers pressing forward even as the cost of new borrowing edged up — tells a story about a market in which pent-up demand is now exerting itself despite, rather than because of, the rate environment. Whether it continues to do so as that environment grows more uncertain is the question the next release, scheduled for 29 June, will need to answer. 

The purchase approval figure demands attention 

At 65,900, April's purchase approvals represent a meaningful step forward. The six-month average of 63,100 provides useful context: April beat it by nearly 3,000 approvals, and comes after a month — March, now revised to 64,000 from the 63,500 originally published — that was itself above trend. 

The trajectory through 2026 reflects genuine recovery from the softer start to the year. January opened at 60,000 purchase approvals and net mortgage borrowing of £4.1 billion, a subdued reading that reflected lingering uncertainty from the late-2025 rate environment. By April, approvals had climbed nearly 10 per cent from that January figure, with the six-month rolling average following closely behind. 

For context, the pre-pandemic monthly average — the 12 months to February 2020 — ran at approximately 66,700. April's figure of 65,900 is within striking distance of that benchmark for the first time since the post-Truss repricing that convulsed the market in late 2022. For brokers with clients sitting on the fence about timing, that trajectory is material: the market is approaching something that looks like normalised activity, and the buyers who have moved are not waiting for rates to fall before doing so. 

"The purchase market has remained robust throughout that really tricky period that happened maybe end of February and March when the US-Iran crisis hit," said Craig Head of Mortgage Required. "There was still a very consistent level of first-time buyer activity and home movers that were still ploughing on regardless of the nervousness around rates — everyone sort of acknowledged it and then just carried on anyway.

"People are not as wrapped up in what the actual rate is — more on just what the payment is and what their comparable thing is elsewhere. When you compare mortgage costs to rental prices, it's really not that different when you translate it to the monthly payments. So I think they just find it's still worth doing and it's not going to deter them, unless rates went up considerably more."

Net mortgage borrowing fell back sharply from March's elevated level 

The net lending figure tells a more nuanced story. Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals fell to £4.4 billion in April, from £6.8 billion in March — a substantial month-on-month decline, and below the previous six-month average of £5.1 billion. The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending, however, increased slightly to 3.3% in April from 3.0% in March. (Note: the Bank has revised the March net borrowing figure upward from the £6.2 billion originally published in last month's release — standard practice in this series.) 

The March figure of £6.8 billion was elevated, reflecting completions concentrated in the post-stamp duty activity surge. April's retreat to £4.4 billion should therefore be read alongside gross lending, which remained significantly above its recent average: secured gross lending was £27.5 billion in April, down slightly from £28.7 billion in March, but still above the six-month average of £24.8 billion. 

Repayments, meanwhile, rose sharply — to £22.7 billion in April from £19.8 billion in March, above the six-month average of £19.7 billion. That surge almost certainly reflects borrowers rolling off fixed-rate deals and completing refinancing or making capital reductions. It is the direct financial counterpart to the high volume of fixed-rate deal expirations anticipated throughout 2026, and it is what is driving the sustained remortgage activity in the approvals data. 

The remortgage market: sustained at historic levels 

March's remortgage data was striking: approvals for remortgaging with a different lender reached 51,300, up sharply from 41,200 in February — a jump of more than 10,000 in a single month, returning volumes to levels last seen at the peak of the October 2022 refinancing wave. April's figure was broadly unchanged from that elevated March level. 

For brokers, "broadly unchanged" at approximately 51,000 is not a disappointment — it is a confirmation. The surge in March was not a statistical blip. The remortgage market is running at a level of sustained activity that has not been seen in three and a half years, and it is doing so in an environment of rising, not falling, effective rates. Borrowers are moving because they are concerned about conditions deteriorating further, not because they are chasing competitive deals that will improve with time. 

The Bank of England's Credit Conditions Survey from late February and early March 2026 anticipated that mortgage availability would increase through to May. April's data confirms demand has matched — and in the remortgage segment, continues to exceed — the availability lenders forecast. 

Mark Harris, chief executive of SPF Private Clients, captured the dynamic after the March data: "Remortgaging numbers jumped significantly, suggesting that borrowers coming off low rates are shopping around for the best deal possible rather than opting for the ease of sticking with their existing lender." April's figures confirm that disposition has not faded. 

The rate move brokers need to flag to clients today 

The one figure in today's release that should prompt an immediate client conversation is the effective interest rate on newly drawn mortgages, which rose to 4.08% in April from 4.03% in March. Five basis points is modest in isolation, but the direction matters enormously given the context. 

The effective rate had been falling through much of late 2025 and early 2026, as the Bank of England cut the base rate from its 5.25% peak in 2023 down to 3.75% in December 2025. April's move upward — even while the base rate was held at 3.75% — reflects what Mortgage Introducer's weekly rate tracker has been recording since March: lender repricing driven by swap rate volatility linked to Middle East geopolitical pressures and above-target inflation is feeding through into the actual cost of new borrowing. 

The rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages edged down by one basis point to 3.92% in April from 3.93% in March — a marginal decline that reflects borrowers who locked in competitive rates in late 2025 and early 2026 now sitting on the stock figures. It offers no comfort about the direction of travel for new lending. 

The macro backdrop is unambiguous. The Bank of England held the base rate at 3.75% on 30 April — its third consecutive hold — with the Monetary Policy Committee voting eight to one in favour of no change. Inflation stood at 3.3% in March, above the Bank's 2% target, before easing to 2.8% in April as the household energy price cap reduction helped offset fuel cost pressures from the Middle East conflict. The MPC's disposition is cautious, and some market participants are now pricing in the possibility of a rate rise later in 2026 rather than further cuts. In that environment, the advice for clients with expiring fixed-rate deals to act promptly rather than speculatively is supported by today's data as clearly as it has been at any point this year. 

Consumer credit steady; business borrowing robust 

Consumer credit borrowing remained unchanged at £1.9 billion in April, in line with the previous six-month average — a reading that suggests households are neither pulling back nor building unsustainable debt. Within the total, credit card borrowing rose slightly to £0.8 billion from £0.7 billion, while other consumer credit (car finance and personal loans) fell to £1.0 billion from £1.2 billion. The annual growth rate for all consumer credit dipped to 8.8%. 

Business borrowing was notably firm. UK non-financial businesses borrowed a net £5.2 billion of bank loans in April, following £5.9 billion in March — with large businesses taking £4.2 billion and SMEs £1.0 billion. Annual growth in large business borrowing rose to 12.3%, and SME borrowing to 4.2%. Total net finance raised by private non-financial corporations came in at £5.5 billion in April, up from £3.7 billion in March. Alongside the strong purchase approval figure, this points to an economy that has not stalled despite the geopolitical headwinds. 

The household deposits picture added one further dimension: households deposited £5.8 billion overall in April — fractionally above March's £5.6 billion — driven by a substantial £12.0 billion flowing into ISAs, likely reflecting end-of-tax-year allowance use at elevated new time deposit rates, which rose sharply to 4.07% in April from 3.76% in March. That simultaneous flow into savings and mortgage borrowing is a portrait of a household sector focused intensely on financial positioning, in both directions. 

Three things brokers should act on today 

Lead with purchase approvals in client conversations. At 65,900 — the strongest since before the Truss shock — April's figure gives hesitant buyers the clearest signal yet that market activity is normalising. Clients waiting for conditions to improve before moving face a harder calculation: demand is rising, the approval pipeline is at a near four-year high, and the effective rate on new borrowing moved up in April, not down. 

Treat the remortgage pipeline as urgent, not advisory. The sustained level of remortgage approvals — holding at roughly 51,000, unchanged from March's historic jump — reflects a borrower population that is moving, not deliberating. Those who have not yet reviewed an expiring deal are already behind the market. With the effective rate on new mortgages ticking up and swap rate volatility showing no sign of abating, the argument for speed over precision in remortgage timing is now directly supported by the data. 

Use the effective rate movement to reset expectations, firmly. The 4.08% effective rate on newly drawn mortgages in April is not a forecast — it is what people paid. Clients still anchored to the rates available in 2021 and early 2022 need a frank conversation. Planning early and engaging a whole-of-market broker who can monitor product availability across the full range of lenders has rarely been more consequential than it is in the market today's data describes.