2018.06.2606:13:00UTC+00UK Mortgage Approvals At 4-Month High

UK mortgage approvals increased to a four-month high in May, data from UK Finance showed Tuesday.

The number of mortgage approvals increased to 39,244 in May from 38,327 in April. This was the highest since January and above the expected level of 38,250.

Gross mortgage lending for the total market in May increased 8.8 percent from a year ago to GBP 22.2 billion.

Credit card spending was 2.3 percent higher than a year earlier. At the same time, personal deposits grew by 1.6 percent annually.

Eric Leenders, Managing Director, Personal Finance at UK Finance said, "May's increase in mortgage approvals was driven by strong growth in remortgaging, as a large number of fixed-term mortgages came to an end and homeowners took advantage of a competitive market to shop around for attractive deals."

"Increased efforts by lenders to contact their customers before their current mortgage deal expires have also contributed to this rise."