UK Mortgage Approvals Drop To Six-Month Low

British banks approved the fewest mortgages for house purchase since March last month and demand to refinance home loans also fell following the Bank of England’s interest rate rise in August. The number of mortgages approved for house purchase dropped to a six-month low of 38,505 in September from 39,241 in August, down 6.7 percent on a year earlier. Britain’s housing market has slowed since the Brexit vote in June 2016. Most of the weakness has been in London and neighbouring areas, which have also been hit by a rise in purchase taxes for property worth over £1 million. Net mortgage lending dropped to £1.550 billion last month from 1.617 billion pounds, the weakest since January. Read more on the Reuters website.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-economy-lending/uk-mortgage-approvals-drop-to-six-month-low-industry-data-idUSKCN1MY103