Mortgage Approvals At A Four Year High

Mortgage approvals for house purchase increased to 70,900 in January, 4.4% higher than in December, and the highest since February 2016, statistics from the Bank of England show.

Remortgage approvals also rose on the month, by 3.9% to 52,100.

Net mortgage borrowing by households was £4 billion in January, slightly below the £4.3 billion average seen over the past six months. The annual growth rate for mortgage borrowing remained at 3.4%.

Nationwide Building Society report that house price growth is at its highest for 18 months.