Mortgage approvals reach 18 month high

Mortgage approvals for house purchases rose to their highest level in 18 months, latest figures from the Bank of England (BoE) show.

In a further sign of a housing market recovery, loan approvals for house purchase increased to 56,215 from 52,970 in August.

But approvals for remortgaging continued to fall. They stood at 25,528 which was below the August figure of 28,348 aa well as the previous six-month average.

The number of loans approved for other purposes were 27,956. This was higher than August's figure but below the previous six-month average.

Net lending secured on dwellings increased by £0.9bn in September. Although this was weaker than the August rise of £1.3bn, it was above the previous six-month average of £0.6bn.

Within total secured lending, secured lending by banks, excluding the effects of securitisations, increased by £3.5bn. This was above the £2.9bn increase in August and above the six-month average of £2.6bn.

Overall, total net lending to individuals rose by £0.7bn in September. The twelve-month growth rate remained at 0.8%, and the three-month annualised growth rate increased 0.1 percentage points to 0.3%.