Bank of England mortgage approvals tick down in August

Data published by the Bank of England on Wednesday showed approvals for house purchases, an indicator of future borrowing, ticked down in August to 74,500 from 75,100 in July.
This is the lowest since July 2020, but remains above pre-February 2020 levels.
Approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) rose to 39,700 in August. This remains low compared to the months running up to February 2020, but is the highest since March 2020.
The data also showed individuals borrowed £5.3 billion of mortgage debt, on net, in August (Chart 1). This follows a rare net repayment of £1.8 billion in July.
Gross lending bounced back to £21.5 billion in August, from £16.6 billion in July. Gross repayments fell a little to £17.6 billion.
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