UK mortgage approvals close to 13-year high in Dec – BoE

LONDON (Reuters) – British mortgage approvals slipped back slightly in December but remained close to a 13 year-high while consumer borrowing fell by the most on record, Bank of England data showed on Monday.

British lenders approved 103,381 mortgages in December, down about 2,000 from November and a bit lower than a median forecast of 105,000 in a Reuters poll of economists.

Britain’s housing market rebounded strongly after the first coronavirus lockdown in the spring of 2020, helped by a cut in a tax on property purchases which is due to expire at the end of next month.

By contrast, unsecured lending to consumers was 7.5% lower than in December 2019, the biggest decline since monthly records began in 1994.

(Reporting by William Schomberg and Andy Bruce)