LONDON (MNI) – Mortgage approvals rebounded in July after their
slump in June, which had been due to the exceptionally wet weather and
the extended Jubilee weekend.
Bank of England data showed mortgage approvals rose to 47,312 in
July from 44,124 in June, but this was still below the May outturn of
50,663 and shows approvals still running at low levels by historic
standards. Consumers appetite for unsecured credit is weak, and the data
showed a net July consumer credit repayment of Stg220 million.
Student loans were excluded from the consumer credit figures in
July, with the estimated Stg47 billion stock of student loans now
removed. As the student loans have been removed from the entire data
series, there is no obvious reason why this change would have fed
through to the negative monthly change in consumer credit in July.
The BOE figures showed broad money, M4, continuing to contract on
the year, rising 0.5% on the month in July but falling 4.6% on a year
ago.
M4 ex-IOFCs, which excludes economically irrelevant intra-financial
sector transactions, rose 1.0% on the month and was up 5.0% on a one
quarter/three month annualised basis and up 3.9% on a four quarter/12
month basis, suggesting the underlying pace of money growth is far more
robust than the headline M4 data suggest.
-London newsroom: +44 207 862 7491 email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$,MABDS$]
