By Jon Sindreu
LONDON--The number of new home loans approved in the U.K. rose
in February to its highest level in six months, suggesting the
British housing market may be ready to rally again after cooling in
the final months of 2014.
British banks approved 61,760 mortgages for property purchases
during the month, the Bank of England said Monday, compared with
60,707 in January. The overall value of mortgage loans also ticked
up to 1.7 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) from GBP1.6 billion.
This is a fresh sign that property prices in the U.K. could soon
start accelerating. Although figures released last week by British
lender Nationwide showed the housing market continued to soften in
March, other indicators for mortgage lending suggest interest in
buying homes is on the up again. A steep climb in prices during the
first half of 2014 was followed by a slowdown as the year came to
an end.
By contrast, the pace of credit to consumers took a small but
unexpected dip in February--consumer credit rose GBP0.7 billion
compared with GBP0.8 billion in January. Economists were expecting
the pace of lending to continue accelerating. Business lending also
cooled, the Bank of England said, although it showed indications of
improving for small firms.
Write to Jon Sindreu at jon.sindreu@wsj.com