Credit card borrowing just 117 million pounds in May |
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Mon, 20 Jun 2005 21:05
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LONDON: The British Bankers Association has released the financial figures for the month of May and they show that while mortgage lending by banks has picked up slight pace, it was way below the recent average. Also the housing market was no longer on the upswing.
Underlying mortgage lending in May rose by 4.3 billion pounds as compared to the 4.0 billion rise in April, the BBA said. But this increase continued to be well below the 4.5 billion pounds average that has been prevailing for the last six months. Commenting on these statistics, David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA, said, "Though May saw stronger lending to individuals from what now look like very subdued April figures, there is little change in the relatively weaker trends seen since the turn of the year. Mortgage lending was below its recent average and, although personal loans saw an average rise, credit card lending by the major banks continued at a very low level and in line with weak retail sales. Corporate demand was also muted, with lending only to companies related to commercial property showing any real demand."
| The BBA also said that consumer credit continued to be on a slide and retail sales reports were a cause for concern, as they have shown no significant movement. Reinforcing the trend of net repayments by credit card holders in April, there was a rise of just 117 million pounds in credit card lending.
Figures released by the Building Societies Association for the month of May have shown that mortgage approvals fell in May. This is the first time that a fall has been reported since November. This also happens to be their lowest value since January.
Net advances were 11 percent less than a year earlier and have fallen to 1.069 billion pounds. BSA Director-General Adrian Coles said, "In the absence of major shocks, the market is likely to continue to be subdued but stable."
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