New figures out today show that gross mortgage lending increased by 7.6% in July 2018 to £24.6bn, ahead of August’s base rate rise.
According to UK Finance, mortgage approvals by the main high street banks fell by 0.8% year-on-year, although remortgage approvals actually rose by 2.8%.
Peter Tyler, director at UK Finance, says: “July saw steady growth in gross mortgage lending, driven largely by remortgaging as homeowners locked into attractive deals in anticipation of the recent base rate rise.”