U.K. Mortgage Approvals Reach Highest Since Brexit Referendum

(Bloomberg) -- U.K. mortgage approvals jumped to the highest since before the Brexit referendum as the housing market swung back into action following Boris Johnson's breakthrough election win.

Lenders signed off on 70,888 home loans in January, the most since February 2016, the Bank of England said Monday. Demand for unsecured credit remained solid.

Key Insights

• Mortgage approvals rise from 67,930 in December. Actual mortgage lending rose by 4 billion pounds
• Consumer credit rose 1.23 billion pounds, slightly above the average of the previous six months
• Net borrowing on credit cards was 238 million pounds and other loans including car finance and hire purchase totalled 992 million pounds. Annual growth in consumer credit stayed at 6.1%
• Non-financial business made net repayments of 6.4 billion pounds, with large firms accounting for almost all of it. Annual growth in business lending slowed to 0.8%, the least since July 2018
• Non-resident investors sold 4.76 billion pounds of U.K. government bonds after record purchases in December

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• Figures are the latest to show the economy picking up after the victory for Johnson's Conservative Party ended the parliamentary deadlock over Brexit
• February House prices climbed at the strongest annual pace since July 2018, according to Nationwide Building Society. Retail sales jumped the most in almost two years in January, ending the worst run for British stores on record

To contact the reporter on this story: David Goodman in London at dgoodman28@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Andrew Atkinson

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