Mortgage Approvals Sink To Near-3-Year Low..>

UK DATA: Mortgage Approvals Sink To Near-3-Year Low In December           

--BOE: UK Dec House Purchase Approvals 61,039 vs 64,712 Nov

--BOE: UK Dec Net Consumer Credit stg1.520bn vs stg1.497bn Nov 

--BOE: UK Dec Net Mortgage Lending stg3.683bn vs stg3.736bn Nov

--BOE: UK Dec M4 Ex-intermediate OFCS +0.4% m/m; +4.7% 3m Annualised         

--BOE: UK Dec Effective Interest Rate On New Secured Loans Up To 2.02%    

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Mortgage approvals fell in December, with declines witnessed across 

both house purchase and remortgaging approvals. The former, a leading 

indicator of underlying market activity, slumped to its weakest level 

since January 2015, down to 61,039. Consumer credit net lending grew by 

stg1.5bn in December, the biggest change since August 2017 but in line 

with the changes seen across 2017. The annual growth rate in consumer 

net credit lending ticked up to 9.5% on the back of the data. Elsewhere, 

thw m/m change in M4 was the lowest since September 2015 at -0.6%.