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Brexit latest: Mortgage approvals perk up in September

There were 62,932 in the month, up from 60,984 in August and higher than the 61,500 City of London analysts had been expecting

Monday 31 October 2016 11:01 GMT

Home loan approvals rose in September (PA)

Mortgage lending unexpectedly picked up in September, according to the latest credit statistics from the Bank of England.

The number of mortgage approvals was 62,932 in the month, up from 60,984 in August and higher than the 61,500 City of London analysts had been expecting.

However, approvals are still running below the rate seen before the European Union referendum in June.

The Bank's figures follow the more timely but less complete data from the British Bankers' Association last week which showed a pick-up in approvals in September to 38,252, up from 37,241 in August.

The data also follows the latest survey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, which showed an upturn in new buyer enquries in September for the first time since February.

"Housing market activity is now starting to stabilise," said Scott Bowman of Capital Economics.

"With housing market activity seemingly coming modestly off its recent lows and the economy currently resilient, house prices could well edge a little higher in the near term," said Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight.

The Bank's figures also show that consumer credit continued to grow strongly in September.

Credit card lending rose by £500m, taking the annual growth rate to 8.4 per cent.

Other loans and advances to households rose £900m.

What experts have said about Brexit

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1/11What experts have said about Brexit

What experts have said about Brexit

Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond

The Chancellor claims London can still be a world financial hub despite Brexit “One of Britain’s great strengths is the ability to offer and aggregate all of the services the global financial services industry needs” “This has not changed as a result of the EU referendum and I will do everything I can to ensure the City of London retains its position as the world’s leading international financial centre.”

Reuters

What experts have said about Brexit

Yanis Varoufakis

Greece's former finance minister compared the UK relations with the EU bloc with a well-known song by the Eagles: “You can check out any time you like, as the Hotel California song says, but you can't really leave. The proof is Theresa May has not even dared to trigger Article 50. It's like Harrison Ford going into Indiana Jones' castle and the path behind him fragmenting. You can get in, but getting out is not at all clear”

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What experts have said about Brexit

Michael O’Leary

Ryanair boss says UK will be ‘screwed’ by EU in Brexit trade deals: “I have no faith in the politicians in London going on about how ‘the world will want to trade with us’. The world will want to screw you – that's what happens in trade talks,” he said. “They have no interest in giving the UK a deal on trade”

Getty

What experts have said about Brexit

Tim Martin

JD Wetherspoon's chairman has said claims that the UK would see serious economic consequences from a Brexit vote were "lurid" and wrong: “We were told it would be Armageddon from the OECD, from the IMF, David Cameron, the chancellor and President Obama who were predicting locusts in the fields and tidal waves in the North Sea"

PA

What experts have said about Brexit

Mark Carney

Governor of Bank of England is 'serene' about Bank of England's Brexit stance: “I am absolutely serene about the … judgments made both by the MPC and the FPC”

Reuters

What experts have said about Brexit

Christine Lagarde

IMF chief urges quick Brexit to reduce economic uncertainty: “We want to see clarity sooner rather than later because we think that a lack of clarity feeds uncertainty, which itself undermines investment appetites and decision making”

Getty Images

What experts have said about Brexit

Inga Beale

Lloyd’s chief executive says Brexit is a major issue: "Clearly the UK's referendum on its EU membership is a major issue for us to deal with and we are now focusing our attention on having in place the plans that will ensure Lloyd's continues trading across Europe”

EPA

What experts have said about Brexit

Colm Kelleher

President of US bank Morgan Stanley says City of London ‘will suffer’ as result of the EU referendum: “I do believe, and I said prior to the referendum, that the City of London will suffer as result of Brexit. The issue is how much”

What experts have said about Brexit

Richard Branson

Virgin founder believes we've lost a THIRD of our value because of Brexit and cancelled a deal worth 3,000 jobs: We're not any worse than anybody else, but I suspect we've lost a third of our value which is dreadful for people in the workplace.' He continued: "We were about to do a very big deal, we cancelled that deal, that would have involved 3,000 jobs, and that’s happening all over the country"

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What experts have said about Brexit

Barack Obama

US President believes Britain was wrong to vote to leave the EU: "It is absolutely true that I believed pre-Brexit vote and continue to believe post-Brexit vote that the world benefited enormously from the United Kingdom's participation in the EU. We are fully supportive of a process that is as little disruptive as possible so that people around the world can continue to benefit from economic growth"

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What experts have said about Brexit

Kristin Forbes

American economist and an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England argues that the economy had been “less stormy than many expected” following the shock referendum result: “For now…the economy is experiencing some chop, but no tsunami. The adverse winds could quickly pick up – and merit a stronger policy response. But recently they have shifted to a more favourable direction”

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Net bank borrowing, including overdrafts, by large firms was more subdued, rising by £200m in the month.

Small firms' net borrowing was £800m.

However, there was a surge in bond issuance, with large companies raising £4.3bn in the month.

Samuel Tombs of Pantheon said firms had "swooped to take advantage of the fall in corporate bond yields, partly caused by the start of the Bank of England's corporate bond purchase programme in September".

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