2017.05.3106:18:00UTC+00UK Mortgage Approvals At 7-month Low

British mortgage approvals fell for a third straight month to its lowest level in seven months during April, figures the Bank of England showed Wednesday.

Loan approvals for house purchase dropped to 64,645 from March's 66,043. Economists had forecast 66,000 approvals.

The figure was the lowest since September last year, when approvals totaled 63,614.

"With Q1's sluggish GDP growth unlikely to be repeated, unemployment very low, and mortgage rates looking attractive, we expect approvals to recover during the second half of the year," Capital Economics economist Hansen Lu said.

Net lending secured on dwellings was GBP 2.7 billion in April, which was the lowest since the same month of 2016. Economists had expected GBP 3 billion secured lending.

Consumer credit grew by GBP 1.5 billion in April, in line with economists' expectations, and the annual growth rate climbed to 10.3 percent from 10.2 percent.

Aggregate M4 money supply grew 8.2 percent annually versus 6.6 percent in March. The monthly growth in broad money rose to 1.2 percent from 0.3 percent.