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MNI POLICY: BOE - Mortgage Interest Rates, Approvals Fall Nov>

-MNI: BOE UK Nov House Purchase Approvals 63,728 Vs 65,726 Oct                                            
     By David Robinson and Jai Lakhani 
     LONDON (MNI) - Bank of England data showed mortgage approvals, net 
mortgage lending and average interest rates on fixed rate mortgages all 
fell in November, adding to evidence of a cooling housing market. 
     The following are key points from the November Bank of England 
Money and Credit and Bankstats data sets: 
     -The BOE Monetary Policy Committee hiked Bank Rate by 25 
basis point hike last August but the borrowing costs facing many 
mortgagees have not risen.
      The average quoted rate on two, three, five and ten year 75% 
loan-to-value mortgages declined in November from October. The average 
rate on a fixed rate two year 75% LTV was 1.74%, down from 1.79% in 
October and almost identical to the 1.73% rate last July.
      With short term fixed rate mortgages dominating UK lending 
borrowers replacing contracts they took out two or three years ago are 
finding themselves facing lower borrowing costs.
     -Mortgage approvals, a good indicator of future housing activity, 
declined to 63,728 in November from 65,726 in October, the lowest 
outturn since last April.
      With recent surveys showing mininal house price inflation the 
evidence is mounting that the housing market is cooling.
     -Net consumer credit rose to stg924 million in Novemberr from 
stg754 million in October, because of a stg100 million rise in credit 
card borrowing.
      The data show a modest rise in unsecured borrowing, which is 
unlikely to prove sustainable. 
-London newsroom: e-mail: david.robinson@marketnews.com  
[TOPICS: M$B$$$,M$$BE$,MABDS$]

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