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Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Mortgage Approvals Hit 11-Month Low In April

The mortgage business is the latest sector to slow down amid uncertainty leading up to the EU referendum.

Mortgage approvals fell to an 11-month low in April - a drop from 70,305 the month before to 66,250 - according to the Bank of England's Money and Credit Report.

The Bank of England said net mortgage lending rose just £281m in April, a fraction of the £3.8bn increase forecast in a Reuters poll of economists and down sharply from a £7.411bn increase in March.

This was the smallest increase in lending for four years.

Economists have blamed the slowdown on people rushing to buy property ahead of a 3% stamp duty rise on buy-to-let properties in April and, consequently, inflating the figure for March lending.

Meanwhile, Nationwide Building Society has released a report saying that the average price of a UK house has increased by just 0.2% during May to £204,368.

Year on year growth was at 4.7% - down from the 4.9% seen in April.

Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: "The adverse impact of uncertainty about the outcome of the EU referendum can be seen clearly across all the latest lending data.

"The drop in (mortgage) approvals reflects April's rise in stamp duty on buy-to-let and second home purchases, as well as the impact of Brexit risk on London's housing market."

Mr Tombs said that he expects the UK to vote to remain in the EU in the 23 June referendum, adding that this should mean "all types of lending likely will bounce back".


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