Mortgage approvals on the rise

Recent figures released by the Bank of England are proving to be good news for the UK property market.
In November, the number of mortgages that were approved rose to over 54,000 – the highest figure seen during this month for the last three years.
Earlier in the year, approval rates had been lower by almost 10,000 but have seen a steady increase since then.
The actual figure of completed sales was 6% higher in 2012, than in the previous year.

Last year, the Bank of England introduced the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS) encouraging banks to introduce more lending to home buyers.
The figures suggest that the scheme has been successful with the hope that figures will continue to improve well into 2013.

The Council for Mortgage Lenders saw a rise on the predictions that they made earlier in the year and accredited this partly to the FLS and are positive about the outlook for the coming year.

There have been signs of a pick-up in remortgage activity although the market for this is still pretty flat, as households struggle with limited equity. With house prices slightly down and some lenders introducing more attractive refinancing deals, this should see an improvement in activity, albeit at a gentle pace over the coming year.