British Households' Demand For Secured Lending Falls: BoE

Britons' demand for mortgages and credit card loans declined in the fourth quarter, latest credit conditions survey from the Bank of England showed Thursday.

Demand for secured lending for house purchase decreased in three months to end-November, and was expected to decrease in three months ending February.

Driven by both credit card and other unsecured lending, overall demand for unsecured lending dropped in the fourth quarter.

Lenders expect demand for credit card lending to increase, while that for other unsecured lending to remain unchanged.

Lenders registered a fall in demand for corporate lending from businesses of all sizes in the past quarter. They see a slight increase in demand from small businesses but decrease for medium and large businesses.

Further, the survey showed that availability of secured credit to households increased but this is likely to fall over the next three months.

Unsecured credit to households eased slightly and was expected to remain unchanged in the first quarter. Lending to the corporate sector decreased marginally and it is forecast to fall slightly again in the coming quarter.

The survey was conducted between November 25 and December 20.