BBA Reports Improvements in UK Mortgage Approvals

Recently, the British Bankers Association (BBA) published its review of the UK mortgage market for September 2009, which revealed that the number of approved mortgage applications saw unprecedented rise. Having reached the level last seen in the beginning of 2008, the number of mortgage approvals became another sign of a British market recovery. The number of mortgage approvals in September 2009 stood at 42,088, which figure represents a 3% increase on August 2009 and almost a 77% increase on September 2008. In terms of value, mortgage approvals fell slightly from £9.4 billion in August to £9.2 billion last month. Meanwhile, the number of applications approved for remortgage saw a significant month-on-month fall. Remortgage approvals for September 2009 amounted to 21,282, down from 23,506 in August this year. British Bankers Association experts are determined that such a sharp decline in remortgage activity can be explained by more favourable terms on lenders’ SVR’s. In the opinion of BBA’s director of statistics, Mr. David Dooks, UK mortgage lending by country’s major banks is improving slowly but surely; yet, he is determined that the recovery of the British mortgage market is mostly dependent on the stock of marketed properties rather than on mortgage approvals. Mr. Dooks highlighted, however, that despite the seemingly good news, the level of UK mortgage approvals is still almost a quarter lower than it was 2 years ago. Commenting on the BBA findings, Mr. Simon Rubinsohn, RICS’ chief economist, said that although the levels of lending and buying activity seen on the UK property market are still significantly lower that they were prior to the economic downturn, the continuous trend of improvement might mean that the market is slowly starting its movement upwards.