UK Mortgage approvals hit lowest level since May 2015

Mortgage approvals hit the lowest level since May 2015 in the run up to the country's vote to leave the European Union, according to the Bank of England.

The UK central bank said on Friday (29 July) that mortgage providers approved 64,766 mortgages in June, versus 66,722 in May, extending the visible decline since the start of the year.

Net mortgage lending rose £3.35bn (€3.9bn, $4.4bn) in June, well above a Reuters poll predicting a figure of £2.6bn, but considerably shy of the this year's peak of £7.275bn recorded in March.

Lending to consumers rose 10.3% year-over-year in June, marking the fastest annual growth since October 2005.

The BoE said consumer credit grew by £1.84bn, up from £1.6bn in May. Elsewhere in the data release, lending to non-financial businesses rose by just over £1bn in June, down from £3bn in May.

Net purchases of UK government bonds by foreign investors came in at £7.9bn in June, the highest since November 2015, the BoE said.