Sign up to create alerts for Instruments,
Economic Events and content by followed authors
Free Sign Up Already have an account? Sign In
Quotes
All Instrument Types
- All Instrument Types
- Indices
- Equities
- ETFs
- Funds
- Commodities
- Currencies
- Crypto
- Bonds
- Certificates
Please try another search
💎 Reveal Undervalued Stocks Hiding in Any Market Get Started
UK housing activity slowing rapidly, Bank of England data shows
2/2
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: High-rise apartments under construction can be seen in the distance behind a row of residential housing in south London, Britain, August 6, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
2/2
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: High-rise apartments under construction can be seen in the distance behind a row of residential housing in south London, Britain, August 6, 2021. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
2/2
LONDON (Reuters) - Mortgage approvals in Britain slumped in December to levels seen during the global financial crisis, Bank of England data showed on Tuesday in a further indication that the housing market is slowing much faster than the consensus predicted.
The BoE said 35,612 mortgages were approved last month, compared with 46,186 in November.
Excluding the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdowns brought the housing market to a standstill, it was the lowest reading since January 2009, when Britain was mired in recession.
A Reuters poll of economists had pointed to approvals of around 45,000 in December.
GRAPHIC: UK mortage approvals fall to financial crisis levels (https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BRITAIN-ECONOMY/LENDING/gdpzqdynqvw/chart.png)
Other indicators also show the housing market is now firmly in reverse gear, after the pandemic and tax breaks spurred a 29% surge in house prices on the official measure.
Tuesday's figures also showed lending to consumers increased in net terms by 493 million pounds ($607 million), much less than the 1.05 billion pounds forecast.
"Overall, the cumulative downward effect from higher interest rates appears to be starting to weigh more heavily on the economy," said Ashley Webb, economist at Capital Economics.
"And given the large share of fixed-rate mortgages, this effect is only going to grow throughout this year."
The BoE is likely to raise interest rates again on Thursday to 4% from 3.5%, according to the latest Reuters poll of economists.
($1 = 0.8120 pounds)
Related Articles
Add Chart to Comment
Confirm Block
Are you sure you want to block %USER_NAME%?
By doing so, you and %USER_NAME% will not be able to see any of each other's Investing.com's posts.
%USER_NAME% was successfully added to your Block List
Since you’ve just unblocked this person, you must wait 48 hours before renewing the block.
Report this comment
I feel that this comment is:
Comment flagged
Thank You!
Your report has been sent to our moderators for review
Add a Comment
We encourage you to use comments to engage with other users, share your perspective and ask questions of authors and each other. However, in order to maintain the high level of discourse we’ve all come to value and expect, please keep the following criteria in mind:
Enrich the conversation, don’t trash it.
Stay focused and on track. Only post material that’s relevant to the topic being discussed.
Be respectful. Even negative opinions can be framed positively and diplomatically. Avoid profanity, slander or personal attacks directed at an author or another user. Racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination will not be tolerated.
Perpetrators of spam or abuse will be deleted from the site and prohibited from future registration at Investing.com’s discretion.