UK mortgage approvals reached their highest level in 13 years last month as tighter Covid-19 restrictions failed to dent strong demand for home loans, as reported in The Guardian. Figures from the Bank of England showed there were 97,500 loans approved by lenders in October – the highest figure since September 2007, the month at the start of the financial crisis when queues formed outside branches of Northern Rock. Threadneedle Street said mortgage approvals were more than 5,000 higher than in September and a third higher than in February, the month before the first lockdown was imposed in response to the pandemic. Mortgage borrowing hit a trough of just £200m in April but has since recovered to £4.3bn. The number of approvals has increased tenfold after hitting a low point of 9,400 in May. Pent-up demand from the period when estate agents were shut and the temporary cut in stamp duty announced by Rishi Sunak in this summer’s economic package in July have both contributed to the boom in mortgage demand, analysts said. Sam Tombs, a UK economist at Pantheon, said the chancellor’s decision to drop stamp duty until March on properties up to £500,000 had “turbo-charged” the market and that demand was likely to stay at high levels throughout the winter as buyers sought to take advantage of the tax break.
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https://www.themortgagebureau.co.uk/uncategorized/uk-mortgage-demand-at-highest-in-13-years-despite-covid-crisis/
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