Mortgage approvals stabilise despite 65% annual fall

Mortgage approvals are 65% lower than a year ago, although there was a glimmer of hope that the mortgage market was starting to recover as new loans agreed moved higher last month.

British Banking Association (BBA) figures showed that a total of 22,448 loans for house purchase were approved by leading banks in July, up from a record low of 22,369, the Times reported.

The paper said that economists and experts thought the figures showed that lending may have stabilised, albeit at low levels, but that the development was unlikely to halt the slide of house prices.