The British Bankers' Association (BBA) reports that, following last weeks release of MBBG net lending figures for May, further information now available on lending to individuals shows that:
* May's gross mortgage lending of £18.2bn was the highest on record 18%, above the outturn for the much shorter working month of April and 27% higher than May last year.
* Seasonally adjusted underlying net mortgage lending (gross lending minus repayments and redemptions) rose by £5.7bn, compared with £5.1bn in April, £4.3bn in May 2005 and an average of £5.1bn over recent months.
* There were 201,506 mortgage approvals (for all purposes) in May, with a total value of £21.2bn. Comparisons with April are distorted, as approvals data are related to the number of working days in a month and there were 21 working days in May and only 18 in April, but the number of approvals was 8% higher than in May 2005. The average approval for house purchase fell in May to £139,300, though still some 11% higher than a year earlier.
* Net lending on loans and overdrafts rose by £0.7bn in May, compared with an increase of £0.3bn in April and an average rise over the previous six months of +£0.3bn. In contrast, underlying net lending on credit cards fell by £0.3bn, having been flat on average in recent months.
David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, said: "Although numbers of approvals are still well below the levels of early 2004, the record level of gross lending and stronger net lending in May shows mortgage market activity to be healthy. And whilst May's consumer credit data show an interchange of borrowing between credit cards and overdrafts, the increase in overall unsecured borrowing was in line with recent trends."
