LONDON (dpa-AFX) - UK mortgage approvals increased for the first time so far this year in May, suggesting an improvement in housing market activity, figures from the Bank of England showed Monday.
The net mortgage approvals for house purchases that indicate future borrowing rose by more-than-expected 2,400 to 63,000 in May. This was the first increase since December 2024 and also exceeded economists' forecast of 61,000.
Approvals for remortgaging also increased in May, by 6,200 to 41,500. This was the largest increase since February 2024, data showed.
Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals rose by GBP 2.8 billion to GBP 2.1 billion, following a large decrease of GBP 13.8 billion to -GBP 0.8 billion in April.
At the same time, gross lending increased to GBP 20.4 billion from GBP 16.9 billion in the previous month.
Consumer credit by individuals decreased to GBP 0.9 billion from GBP 1.9 billion in the prior month.
Within overall consumer credit, borrowing through credit cards fell to GBP 0.1 billion from GBP 1.2 billion and that through other forms of consumer credit slid to GBP 0.7 billion from GBP 0.8 billion.
In April, UK businesses made the largest amount of net borrowing since April 2020. Businesses borrowed GBP 8.6 billion compared to GBP 1.2 billion in April.
The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses increased to 8.4 percent from 5.9 percent in April. This was the highest expansion since September 2022.
The annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs increased for the 14th consecutive month, rising to -0.2 percent from -0.8 percent, the BoE said.
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