"As has been the case over the last three years, the prospects for the London market will have an important bearing on overall house price growth in 2013"
- Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack
The number of mortgages approved in the U.K. remained unchanged last month, confounding expectations for a modest increase. The British Bankers' Association said that lenders granted 33,600 approvals in December, from the same reading in the preceding month. Analysts, however, expected mortgage approvals to improve to 34,100. At the same time, re-mortgage dropped to 17,698 from 18,722 a month ago, pushing overall mortgage approvals down to 61,987 from 62,790. During the last year, approvals for house purchase were 2% lower compared to the 2011.
"Credit availability increased and pricing reduced towards the year-end as banks developed product offerings using the Funding for Lending Scheme, which is expected to bring further benefits to households and businesses in 2013," BBA statistics director, David Dooks said.
"As has been the case over the last three years, the prospects for the London market will have an important bearing on overall house price growth in 2013. London continued to provide important support to headline trends in 2012. The question is whether this is a trend that can be maintained," said Richard Donnell, director of research at Hometrack.
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