"Cooling house prices is no bad thing"
- John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC
The number of mortgage approvals in the U.K. dipped in May to the lowest level in 11 months, meeting market expectations, reflecting that stricter lending rules are having an impact on the housing market. The Bank of England said that mortgage approvals for house purchases stood at 61,707 in May, down from 62,806 a month earlier and lower than the recent high of 75,901 in January. The updated rules, known as the Mortgage Market Review, introduced in April to ensure buyers are able to afford their mortgage, have been widely regarded as slowing down the mortgage applications process. After the central bank's sting of warnings that the housing market is a serious threat to the UK economic growth, the Bank of England's Financial Policy Committee has taken steps to ensure the U.K. housing market does not overheat, by asking lenders to guarantee that mortgage applicants could cope with a three-percentage-point hike in interest rates, tougher than current affordability checks.
Meanwhile German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäeuble does not see the European future without U.K.'s membership in the EU and is committed to do everything to keep the country within the union. His comments come amid Britain intention to hold a referendum about EU membership in 2017 and David Cameron's opposition to new European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.
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