New mortgage approvals fall year on year
01 September 2008
The number of new mortgages approved for buyers in the UK has fallen by 71 per cent compared to a year ago, according to Bank of England figures published on the BBC.
In July this year the number of buyers being approved dropped to 33,000, which according to the BBC highlights the "sharp slump" in mortgage lending in the last year.
Adrian Coles of the Building Societies Association (BSA) said that activity in the housing market "continues to be depressed" with figures suggesting that this is likely to carry on for some time.
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The BBC reports that the UK credit crunch has meant that banks and building societies now have to "ration" their lending to their most "creditworthy" borrowers.
The Times reported last month that the number of mortgages approved in the UK in July of this year was less than 22,500 which was apparently "slightly" above the record low figures from June.
