Mortgage lending 'hits new low'
Home loans lending for purchase hit a decade-long low in May, new figures from the British Bankers' Association (BBA) show.The mortgage approvals were found to have fallen 20 per cent to just 28,000 - the lowest monthly total since records began in 1997.This total is also 56 per cent down on May 2007's figure, which was registered before the beginning of the credit crunch last summer.Elsewhere in the BBA report, the value of gross mortgage lending was found to have fallen from £17 billion to £16.2 billion in May.Commenting on the figures, BBA statistics director David Dooks said: "Measures of mortgage activity were lower in May as a result of tighter lending criteria and economic pressures on households."Only remortgaging business is holding up, where people need or want to take advantage of deals with other lenders."According to the most recent survey from lender HBOS, house prices in the UK are dropping at a rate of 2.5 per cent per month.
Share this..
Related stories
If the US economy is cooling, where does that leave the rest of the world?
More and more economic indicators suggest that the US economy is "cooling" which is beginning to impact upon decisions made by the European Central Bank and other central banks around the world. There were high hopes that the US economy would continue to grow and drag other economies higher but this appears to be something of a forlorn hope at the moment. Initial indications only a few weeks ag...
Read MoreUK unions demand equal rights for temporary staff
While Gordon Brown was last year forced to give in to a union led campaign to give agency and temporary staff the same rights as permanent staff with regards to holidays and wages, it would appear that a further battle is brewing for 2009. Brought about by the sacking of hundreds of BMW staff just last week in the UK with literally no notice, the unions have now taken up the case for equal rights...
Read MoreIs the Bank of England considering heavy duty credit easing?
Adam Posen, a member of the Bank of England MPC, has been talking about the problems ahead for the Bank of England with regards to the UK economy. He believes that if the quantitative easing program which many expect to happen in the short term is not successful then the Bank of England may need to adjust the borrowing costs in specific areas of the UK economy. He quoted "heavy duty credit easing"...
Read MoreIt's A Wrap for Wedding Gift Firm
News that wedding gift firm Wrapit has gone into administration will not come as a total shock to readers of this site after we picked up on the story last month. However, this does not make it any easier for the estimated 100,000 guests who will now need to reclaim their funds for presents highly unlikely to make it to the couples of the day.
It has been reported that Wrapit has...
Budget 2010: No pain no gain
The financial press today is full of contradicting advice and opinions regarding the UK budget yesterday but the bottom line is that with UK finances flat lined there is no way we will see recovery in the UK without pain. In simple terms, no pain no gain for the UK economy and no pain no gain for UK taxpayers! Those who believe that taxpayers will not see higher income tax in the short term, po...
Read More