High street bank mortgage lending fell in June

Mortgage lending from the main high street banking groups fell in June, new data from the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) has revealed today.

The value of mortgage approvals for house purchases fell to £5.1bn in June. This represents a £300m fall from May’s above average £5.4bn worth of lending.

The average monthly value of mortgage approvals for house purchases in the last six months was £5.3bn.

The main high street banks account for almost two-thirds of mortgage lending in the UK.

The abolition of Home Information Packs is expected to bring more properties onto the market, but the June BBA data suggests there are rough times ahead for the housing market.

David Dooks, BBA’s statistics director, said: “The abolition of HIPs and a reported increase in the number of house sellers is expected to encourage activity in the market, though this may be tempered by households’ uncertainty over job prospects and the impacts of fiscal tightening.”