Approved mortgages fall to new low in June

The number of mortgages that were approved in the month of June has now fallen to a record low. It seems that the lower house prices have done nothing to increase mortgage approvals.

According to The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) their members report that just 21,118 home loans for new purchases were approved in June, which is down from 27,499 in May. Looking at June 2007 figures, approved mortgage for new purchases are down by 66.9%.

This is now the lowest figure since the BBA started to collect this data 11 years ago. Many were hoping that the fall in house prices would help house sales, but tougher criteria from mortgage lenders and other changes in the mortgage market has cancelled this out.

Also lower is Remortgaging, the number of loans approved was lower in June than in May. The figures in May were 62,637, in June it was down to 59,637, this is down by 13% than the same time last year.

HM Revenue & Customs have also reported a massive drop a sharp drop in the number of property transactions for June, just 77,000 homes exchanged hands.

Source