New data from UK Finance reveals that UK mortgage approvals bounced back to a four month high in May, having picked up significantly for the second month running.
According to the figures, a total of 39,244 mortgages were approved in May, up from 38,327 in April.
The promising news follows somewhat ‘lacklustre’ lending earlier in the year, with a record low of just 37,769 loans approved in March, which experts blame largely on bad weather conditions across most parts of the country.
In recent weeks, commentators have voiced concerns that the housing market is slowing, with mortgage approvals still down by around four per cent year-on-year.
Brexit-related uncertainties, ill-founded interest rate fears and more have all been blamed for this by experts.
However, UK Finance’s latest figures suggest that mortgage approvals are slowly beginning to bounce back, indicating that confidence is improving among buyers.
Commenting on the latest data, prominent economist Howard Archer, said: “While housing market activity has eased off its 2018-lows, it is still finding it hard to gain traction as it pressurised by limited consumer purchasing power, fragile confidence and the prospect of further gradual Bank of England interest rate rises over the coming months.
“We suspect that any meaningful housing market upturn will remain elusive over the coming months,” he said.
“We expect house price gains over 2018 will be limited to a modest two per cent. At this stage, we expect prices to rise by no more than 3 per cent in 2019,” he added.