LONDON, May 1 (Reuters) – British mortgage lenders
approved 63,531 mortgages for house purchase in March, up from
62,708 in February and above the 60,000 median forecast in a
Reuters poll of economists, Bank of England data showed on
Friday.
Net unsecured lending to consumers rose by 1.895 billion
pounds ($2.58 billion), above economists’ forecast of a 1.75
billion pound increase.
Rising mortgage rates and a drop in consumer confidence
since the start of the Iran war have caused property surveyors
to report falling prices and buyer demand in March, although
figures from Nationwide Building Society showed house prices
continuing to rise modestly in April.
($1 = 0.7352 pounds)
(Reporting by David Milliken
Editing by William Schomberg)