Figures released by the Bank of England show that net mortgage lending rose by 0.1% in September. The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase was little changed on August’s figure of 47,498. With regards to remortgaging, there were 28,903 mortgage approvals during September, slightly higher than August’s figure of 28,390. There were 23,279 approvals for other purposes in September compared to 23,963 in August.
Inflation remains a concern but is expected to fall below the headline target of 2 per cent early in 2011. Interest rates are one of the few stable factors in people’s lives at present and with so much uncertainty out there, we expect to see them remain at this level for the foreseeable future. This will allow households to budget with some degree of confidence and hopefully avoid an unacceptable level of property repossessions which will only add to the problems the country faces.