LONDON (SHARECAST) - There was mixed data on the mortgage lending front Monday, with the number of loan approvals for house purchases in January falling from December, but the total amount of lending rising.
The Bank of England said 48,198 loans were approved for house purchases, compared with 58,223 in December.
Total net lending to individuals rose by £2bn from December, including a rise of £1.5bn in lending secured on dwellings, up from a £1.2bn increase in December, and £0.5bn in consumer credit lending, up from a £0.3bn rise.
‘It is approvals that are more reflective of the current state of the housing market,’ said Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist of the analyst group IHS Global Insight.
He said the slowdown in activity was due to the bad weather in January and house buyers making their purchases in late 2009 to beat the price threshold for stamp duty on house purchases moving back down from £175,000 to £125,000 at the start of January.
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