LiveMore comments on BoE Money and Credit data

30 January 2024

Re the reporting on the Bank of England Money and Credit data published this morning, here is a comment from Simon Webb at LiveMore, the mortgage lender for people aged 50 to 90+.

Simon Webb, managing director of capital markets and finance at LiveMore, said: “It is house purchase approvals that really indicate how much more confident the mortgage market is compared to this time last year. Today’s figures show an increase in mortgage approvals for house purchases from 49,300 in November to 50,500 in December. This is a great comeback from December 2022, when mortgage approvals dropped to a three-year low of 35,600 from 46,200 in November.

“Interest rates, however, are still hurting consumers. Despite the fact that the interest paid on newly drawn mortgages fell by six basis points to 5.28% in December – the first drop since November 2021 – that’s still a hike above the interest rate at the same period last year, when the rate increased to 3.67% in December 2022. Clearly, we have our work cut out for us in 2024.”