The British Bankers' Association (BBA) reports net mortgage lending rose by an underlying £5.4bn in September. This was £0.4bn lower than the £5.9bn rise in August and also below the monthly average of +£5.6bn over the previous six months. Unsecured personal lending was marginally down in September, continuing the picture of little change, on average, over the previous six months. Loans and overdrafts rose by £0.1bn, whilst underlying credit card borrowing fell by £0.1bn.
David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, said: "It is not unusual for an above-trend net mortgage lending figure, as we saw in August, to be followed by a below-trend figure, as in September. Neither figure should be viewed as a sign of structural changes in demand; the underlying movements have been stable recently, increasing by around £5.6bn a month for the last 5 months. This year's noticeable weakness in consumer credit continued in September with a negligible rise in personal loans and overdrafts whilst credit card lending declined again. So far this year, borrowing on credit cards issued by the major banks has contracted substantially, by £1.4bn."
