Mortgage approvals drop 40%

Seasonally adjusted figures show approvals dropped from 74,000 in January to just 71,400 in February. Connells says last month was the weakest February since Bank of England records began in 1993. The only weaker month on record is June 2005, as the market recovered from a succession of base rate increases. Approvals have declined 40.5% over the past year, from a high point of over 125,000 in February 2007, and have fallen for ten of the last twelve months, according to Connells. Ross Bowen, managing director of Connells, says: “February’s fall in mortgage approvals is not as dramatic...