| Household mortgage borrowing rose to £4.8 billion in February from £4.2 billion in January, slightly above the recent average, while mortgage approvals for house purchases increased to 62,600 but remained just below the six-month average. Remortgaging approvals also climbed to 41,200.
Consumer credit borrowing edged up to £1.9 billion, with credit card borrowing falling to £0.8 billion and other loans, such as car finance and personal loans, rising to £1.2 billion.
Businesses borrowed less overall, with private non-financial corporations taking £2.6 billion in February compared to £5.1 billion in January, although bank loan borrowing increased to £4.3 billion.
Money supply (M4ex) rebounded strongly to £10.8 billion after a negative £7.3 billion in January, driven mainly by households adding £5.8 billion to savings, including £4.6 billion into ISAs.
However, overall lending to the private sector (M4Lex) fell to -£3.2 billion, mainly due to large repayments by financial companies, despite continued borrowing by households (£5.1 billion) and businesses (£2.6 billion). |