The mortgage market saw the number of approvals for house purchase climb from 98,300 in October to 105,000 in November, the highest number of approvals since August 2007.

New statistics published by the Bank of England (BoE) also showed there were 715,300 house purchase approvals over the year to November 2020, a figure close to the 722,000 recorded during the same period in 2019.

The BoE suggested that recent strength in approvals had “almost fully” offset the significant weakness registered earlier in 2020.

The data also showed that approvals for remortgage, which only captures remortgaging with a different lender, rose slightly in November to 35,100, but added that this figure remains around 33% lower than in February 2020.

In total, the figures revealed that households borrowed an additional £5.7bn secured on their homes, following net borrowing of £4.5bn in October. The BoE stated that November borrowing was the highest since March 2016, and significantly higher than the average of £3.9bn seen in the six months to February 2020.

Enness Global Mortgages group CEO, Islay Robinson, commented: “While many of us will have had a somewhat muted festive period, this certainly hasn’t been the case where the UK property market is concerned, with the latest figures showing the highest level of monthly mortgage approvals since August 2007.

“This leading indicator of buyer appetite has been on an upward trajectory since May and demonstrates the huge influx of market activity seen since the market reopened. So although 2020 ended with a whimper, the market shows no signs of slowing just yet and this huge degree of momentum is certain to carry through to this year.”

However, the BoE’s latest data also showed that household’s consumer credit weakened further in November, with net repayments of £1.5bn, following a net repayment of £0.7bn in October.

Since the beginning of March, households have repaid £17.3bn of consumer credit, causing the annual growth rate to fall to -6.7% in November, a new series low since it began in 1994, the BoE confirmed.

“The fast approaching stamp duty deadline will dampen buyer demand to some extent,” Robinson added.

“However, the availability of record low mortgage rates for those in a position to secure them should ensure demand remains robust beyond March which will bring long-term benefit to the market as a whole.”

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