Bank lending up except in mortgages

However, while net lending showed an improvement, gross mortgage lending fell to £9.2bn - its lowest level since June 2001. Approvals showed some improvement from January, with £3.5bn home purchase loans approved, up from £2.9bn in January, with the total number of mortgages approved reaching £7.8bn. However, they remain at a very low level - the number of mortgages approved is down 56.5% on last year. David Dooks, statistics director at the BBA, commented: "Most new mortgage lending is being done by the high street banks but demand is, of course, being moderated by the impacts of the r...