British mortgage approvals dropped to about 2 in October, a 13-month low, according to industry trade body UK Finance. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures appeared to be "just the start" of a bigger downturn in the UK housing market, which would probably be exacerbated by the recent interest rate rise to 0.5% from 0.25%.
British mortgage approvals dropped to 40,488 in October, a 13-month low, according to industry trade body UK Finance. Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said the figures appeared to be "just the start" of a bigger downturn in the UK housing market, which would probably be exacerbated by the recent interest rate rise to 0.5% from 0.25%.