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Bank of England Mortgage Approvals and Lending February 2021

  • Annual growth in secured lending rose further in February, rising by 3.2% year-on-year, from 3.1% in January. 
    • The monthly change in the additional amount households borrowed totalled £6.2bn, above the previous six-month average of £4.9bn and the strongest net borrowing since March 2016. 
    • This was supported by the expected ending of the temporary stamp duty tax relief at the end of March, which has now been extended to end of June.
  • Mortgage approvals slowed in February, totalling 87,669 from 97,350 in January, lower than the previous six-month average of 96,284. Compared with the same month a year ago, mortgage approvals rose by 19%.
  • The number of re-mortgaging approvals totalled 34,292 in February up from 32,634 in the previous month and above the previous six-month average of 33,497.
  • Households borrowed an additional £4.9bn of loans in February, up on the £2.6bn borrowed in January and above than the previous six-month average of £3.8bn. 
  • Annual growth in unsecured lending deteriorated further in February, falling by 9.9% year-on-year from -9.0% in the previous month - a new record low (series began in 1994). 
    • Households’ made a net repayment of £1.2 billion in February following a larger net repayment (£2.7bn) in the previous month.
    • The weakness was driven by a £0.9bn net repayment on credit cards with a smaller net repayment on other loans and advances of £0.3bn.

Source: Bank of England

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