House buying slowdown as mortgage approvals drop

Mortgage approvals dropped again in February, the Bank of England said, as consumer credit borrowing also slowed by £300m compared with January.

- By Mauricio Alencar

House buying appeared to ease as lenders gave the go ahead to around 65,500 mortgages in February, compared to some 66,100 the month previously.

January in turn saw a decrease of around 400 in approvals compared with the end of 2024.

The 65,500 figure was smaller than predicted by a Reuters poll of economists.

Mortgage debt was £3.3bn in February, a decrease of £0.9bn compared with the previous month.

Consumer credit by individuals was £1.4bn but credit card borrowing dropped to £0.8bn from £1.1bn.