British mortgage approvals rose to their highest level in more than a year in September, a month after the Bank of England cut interest rates, in a further sign the housing market may be stabilising.
The Bank of England said today that loans agreed for house purchase rose to 107,000 last month from a downwardly revised 106,000 in August.
That was the highest since June last year, providing more evidence that August's first interest rate cut in more than two years has boosted homebuyer confidence after a sharp slowdown in the property market since mid-2004.
Expectations have grown in recent weeks that the Bank of England is no longer poised to cut borrowing costs further from their current 4.5% and may even reverse August's move because of worries about higher inflation.
Mortgage lending growth also picked up slightly to £7.703 billion sterling in September from £7.592 billion in August. That compared to a forecast for £7.8 billion.
Consumer credit, or unsecured lending, also rose roughly as expected by £1.249 billion after a rise of £1.321 billion in August. But that was up just 10.9% on the year, its weakest rate since November 1994.
