UK Mortgage Market Remains Strong

MAR MORTGAGE APPROVALS 82,735 VS FEB 87,385

MAR NET CONSUMER CREDIT -GBP0.535BN VS FEB -GBP1.168BN

MAR NET CHANGE SECURED LENDING GBP11.832BN VS FEB GBP6.434BN

• The UK mortgage market remained strong in Mar with mortgage borrowing surging to GBP11.8bn, its highest reading since the series began in 1993. Borrowing was boosted by the expected end of the stamp duty tax relief, which has now been prolonged. Mortgage approvals eased slightly to 82,735, which is lower than Nov's peak but above the level seen in Feb 2020. Approvals for remortages remained unchanged at 34,800 in Mar. The effective rate on new mortgages rose to 1.94% in Mar, up from 1.91% seen in Feb.
• Households continued to make net repayments of consumer credit, recording GBP 0.5bn in Mar, which was smaller than the net repayment seen in Mar 2020. Hence, the annual growth rate of consumer credit remained weak, but rose to -8.6% in Mar, up from the series low of -10.0% seen in Feb.
• The effective interest rate on new consumer credit ticked down to 5.03% in Mar, while the cost of credit card borrowing fell to 18.01%.