Defying predictions - Comment on the BoE money and credit figures for September from Richard Pike at Phoebus Software

29 October 2021

Richard Pike, Phoebus Software sales and marketing director, says “In a week when the Chancellor chose to almost sideline housing in his budget speech it is encouraging to see that mortgage approval numbers in September were still above the pre-pandemic level. Not that £24bn is an insignificant amount, it just didn’t warrant much emphasis in the greater scheme of things. However, for those of us in the industry we have to take the positives while we can get them and, for now, our housing market continues to defy predictions that it would fall off a cliff after the SDLT holiday.

“It is interesting to see that consumer borrowing increased whilst savings, which had increased during the pandemic, fell slightly. As people return to ‘normal’ practices the difference between what people spend and what they save is likely to increase. Not surprising when you consider how long we were without those liberties. Rising prices, especially on energy and fuel, will surely make that gap even wider over the coming months. Then lenders will have to take a long hard look at affordability calculators and the risk that rising household bills has on overall affordability.”