According to UK Finance, remortgage approvals dipped 3.7% lower and approvals for other secured borrowing were 5.9% higher than the same month a year earlier.
Gross mortgage lending across the residential market in May 2019 was £21.9 billion, 0.4% lower than the same month in 2018.
Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, says “Looking at these latest figures from UK Finance, and the upwards swing in the number of mortgage approvals for house purchase, it appears the market is moving again despite the ongoing political turmoil in the UK. The increase in credit card spending is something that we do need to be mindful of, but currently we can also see that consumers are so far keeping up with repayments of their debt. One wonders whether credit cards are being used to keep up repayments on other areas as well? We must not only consider levels of debt but future affordability if credit card spending keeps increasing”.
Alastair McKee, Managing Director of One 77 Mortgages, commented: “The latest mortgage approval numbers, whilst a smidgeon below forecast, have remained at a very healthy level indeed. In fact, along with the previous month, they represent some of the highest numbers since March 2017.
Buyers are evidently no longer being deterred from the market and indeed are seeking mortgages at almost record numbers. The latest figures also represent the strongest June performance since 2015 and one has to ask, how strong would the property market be without the current headwinds of Brexit uncertainty and, arguably, an even more uncertain prime ministerial race?”
Marc von Grundherr, Director of Benham and Reeves, commented: “We’ve long predicted a post-Brexit bounce in the UK property market and low and behold we are seeing this already in today’s mortgage data.
As Brexit becomes wearing for would be home buyers, they are beginning to jump in with both feet resulting in more mortgage approvals than we have seen in all but one month since 2017. This will only be a positive thing for the market as heightened demand will reverse the previous price growth declines we’ve seen across much of the market.”
John Goodall, CEO of Landbay, says: “It was another slow month for mortgage lending, with a potent cocktail of poor consumer confidence and subdued house prices.
However, it’s heartening to see a rebound in the number of mortgage approvals; demand continues to shine through even in challenging political and economic circumstances. For borrowers, the current landscape of low-interest rates, stable inflation and impressive wage-growth should lend some breathing space to their budgets, meaning things are looking up as we move into the second half of the year.”
