Bank of England Mortgage Approvals and Lending January 2022
- Annual growth in secured lending (e.g. mortgages) rose by 4.8% in January, unchanged from the previous month.
- Consumers borrowed £5.9bn of mortgage debt, up from £4.0 billion in December, above the pre-pandemic average of £4.3bn in the 12-months to February 2020.
- The number of mortgage approvals rose further in January, totalling 73,992, above the 12-month average up to February 2020 of 66,700 and the sharpest rise since July 2021, a further indication that housing market activity remains elevated.
- Compared with the same month a year ago, mortgage approvals fell by 23% against the stamp duty holiday a year ago.
- The number of re-mortgaging approvals also rose, totalling 46,233 in January, the highest since February 2020 but below the 12-month pre-pandemic average of 49,500.
Source: Bank of England
- Annual growth in unsecured lending rose by 3.2% in January, up from 1.5% in the previous month. Households borrowed £0.6 billion of consumer credit, compared to £0.8bn in December.
- This was split between £0.1bn of additional borrowing on credit cards and £0.5bn in borrowing in ‘other’ forms of consumer credit (e.g. car finance, personal loans).
