Mortgage approvals for home buyers in the UK surged to a four-month high in March, Bank of England figures reveal. This coincides with a new record for average house prices across the nation.
Some 63,531 mortgage approvals for house purchases were recorded last month, marking the highest total since November 2025, the Bank’s Money and Credit report stated.
It surpassed the monthly average of around 63,200 approvals over the previous six months.
Approvals for remortgaging, which only capture remortgaging with a different lender, also increased, reaching 51,300 in March from 41,200 in February.
The figures emerged as Nationwide Building Society announced the average house price climbed by 3.0 per cent annually in April, accelerating from 2.2 per cent annual growth in March.
Property values rose by 0.4 per cent month-on-month in April, taking the typical UK house price to £278,880 – a new record high in cash terms, Nationwide said.
Dan Hill, a research analyst at Savills, said: “Much of this data reflects buyers and homeowners acting with urgency to secure a lower rate.”
Karim Haji, global and UK head of financial services at KPMG, said: “The uptick in approvals for house purchases and remortgaging is surprising given the surge in rates during March.
“This may point to some resilience in the market, but overall affordability remains under pressure.”
Jason Tebb, president of OnTheMarket, said: “Our own property sentiment index suggests resilience and optimism among buyers and sellers. Even against a backdrop of ongoing political and economic turbulence, attitudes towards affordability, property values and moving home remain remarkably consistent.”
The Bank of England report also said the annual growth rate for all consumer credit accelerated to 8.9 per cent in March, from 8.6 per cent in February.
Within this total, the annual growth rate for credit card borrowing increased to 12.3 per cent, from 12.1 per cent previously.
Households’ deposits with banks and building societies increased by £5.5 billion in March, following net deposits of £6.2 billion in February, the Bank said.
This was partly driven by an additional £4.4 billion of cash flowing into Isas in March, leading up to the end of the tax year.
Also in March, UK non-financial businesses borrowed, on net, £7.0 billion of loans from banks and building societies, including overdrafts, following £4.2 billion of net borrowing in February.
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