UK Mortgage Approvals Fall 15% as Housing Market Cools
Britain's housing market is showing clearer signs of a slowdown. Mortgage approvals for house purchases fell 15% year-on-year in July, with roughly 56,000 approvals recorded compared to nearly 66,000 a year earlier — and approvals were also down slightly from June.
House prices nationally, meanwhile, are barely moving. Annual growth has slowed to around 2%, and prices actually dipped slightly on a seasonally adjusted month-on-month basis. The picture is uneven across the country: growth has held up better in the North West and North East of England, while prices in London have outright fallen over the past year.
What's weighing on the market:
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Average two-year fixed mortgage deals have crept back up to around 5.67%, making affordability tighter for new buyers
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Uncertainty ahead of the government's upcoming budget is prompting some buyers to delay major purchases
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Industry surveyors note demand has stabilized rather than collapsed, but sentiment remains fragile
A cautiously optimistic note: Despite the approval slump, surveyors responding to the latest residential market survey reported feeling more optimistic than earlier in the year, even as they flagged a challenging macroeconomic backdrop. Much will depend on whether the autumn budget avoids reigniting the kind of speculation that has spooked buyers in previous years.