MNI POLICY: BOE Data: Mortgage Approvals, Interest Rates Fall>

     By David Robinson and Irene Prihoda

     LONDON (MNI) - Bank of England money and credit data showed 

     The following are key points from the BOE data sets:

     -Mortgage interest rates in May, in aggregate dipped lower with 

rates on new mortgages tending to hold steady or decline slightly. 

     The data show that despite BOE Monetary Policy Committee members 

continuing to talk about limited and gradual tightening ahead, 

mortgagees are seeing a slight easing in interest rates paid. 

     The average rate on the stock of mortgage fell to 2.42% in May from 

2.45% in April, the lowest rate on record. 

     The quoted, or shop window, mortgage interest rates published 

earlier in the month showed that the average rate on 2 year, 3 year and 

5 year 75% loan-to-value mortgages were, respectively, unchanged at 

1.66% and 1.80% and dipped to 1.98% from 2.00%. 

     -Mortgage approvals, a reliable indicator of future housing market 

activity, declined to 65,409 in May from 66,045 in April. Mortgage 

approvals have held in a tight range so far this year with the low 

62,446 in March and it is hard to read much into the monthly volatility. 

     -Unsecured borrowing remained soft in May, with May's net consumer 

credit falling to stg0.822 billion from stg0.968 billion. 

     The series' peak was stg2.296 billion in March 2016 but the 

evidence in recent months is of subdued demand for unsecured loans with 

household deleveraging continuing. 

 -London newsroom: e-mail: david.robinson@marketnews.com  

[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$,MABDS$]