Bank of England Mortgage Approvals and Lending February 2021

Annual growth in secured lending rose further in February, rising by 3.2% year-on-year, from 3.1% in January.
- The monthly change in the additional amount households borrowed totalled £6.2bn, above the previous six-month average of £4.9bn and the strongest net borrowing since March 2016.
- This was supported by the expected ending of the temporary stamp duty tax relief at the end of March, which has now been extended to end of June.
Mortgage approvals slowed in February, totalling 87,669 from 97,350 in January, lower than the previous six-month average of 96,284. Compared with the same month a year ago, mortgage approvals rose by 19%.

The number of re-mortgaging approvals totalled 34,292 in February up from 32,634 in the previous month and above the previous six-month average of 33,497.
Households borrowed an additional £4.9bn of loans in February, up on the £2.6bn borrowed in January and above than the previous six-month average of £3.8bn.

Annual growth in unsecured lending deteriorated further in February, falling by 9.9% year-on-year from -9.0% in the previous month - a new record low (series began in 1994).
- Households’ made a net repayment of £1.2 billion in February following a larger net repayment (£2.7bn) in the previous month.
- The weakness was driven by a £0.9bn net repayment on credit cards with a smaller net repayment on other loans and advances of £0.3bn.

Source: Bank of England