British mortgage approvals touch nine-month low

British mortgage approvals fell to their lowest level in nine months in February, Bank of England figures showed yesterday, in another sign that the recovery in the housing market is stalling.

The Bank of England said mortgage approvals numbered 47,094 in February, down from 48,099 in January and well below the figure of almost 60,000 reached in November when people rushed to take advantage of a temporary reduction in property purchase tax. Analysts had forecast a reading of 48,000.

"The main message is that mortgage approvals have stalled over the past few months, indicating a lull in the housing market," said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec. "It remains to be seen if the budget moves are enough to raise transactions and engineer an upturn."

Britain's Labour government last week announced a temporary exemption in property purchase tax for first-time buyers of homes costing less than £250,000 (Dh1.3 million), paid for by a rise in tax on homes costing over £1m that will take effect next year. However, total lending to households posted its strongest rise since July 2008, up £2.114 billion on the month.