The UK’s big banks handed out over £100 billion in mortgage loans during 2013 — the highest amount for five years, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said today.
Its figures for December revealed that 46,521 loans for house purchases were made, 38% ahead of 12 months earlier and the biggest increase in a single month since September 2007 and the collapse of Northern Rock.
The £11.5 billion in loans granted by the likes of Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Virgin Money swelled the 2013 total to £112.6 billion, the highest since 2008’s £153.9 billion when tens of thousands of borrowers remortgaged to take advantage of Bank of England rate cuts. Even so, last year’s total is still just half 2007’s £224 billion.
The Bank has acted to cool the rapid recovery in the housing market by restricting its Funding for Lending Scheme this year to corporate credit, and not household lending, although the Help to Buy initiative is encouraging tens of thousands of first-time buyers to get on the property ladder.
David Dooks at the BBA said the figures “provide further evidence of a more active housing market, helped by growing consumer confidence and government support schemes like Help to Buy”.
Shoppers spent £95.5 billion on credit cards in 2013, 11% higher than 2012, although growth slowed at the end of the year. Business loans have still been shrinking, though at a slower rate than in November, the BBA added.
