"The BOE and Treasury are pulling out all the stops to boost the flow of credit, which for now is showing up in the housing market"
-Rob Wood, chief U.K. economist at Berenberg Bank
The number of mortgage approvals in the U.K. rose more than predicted in March, as an easing of credit conditions helped to boost the housing market, data from the Bank of England showed Tuesday. Lenders granted 53,504 mortgages, compared with a revised 51,947 in the preceding month, and beating analysts' expectations of 53,000 reading. Total lending to consumers jumped 923 million pounds in March, while lending to businesses dropped again, with lending to non-financial firms shrinking by 554 million pounds. Latest data suggests that BoE's funding-for-lending scheme has yet to feed through to businesses, which are holding back investment and showing unwillingness to increase spending.
"The BOE and Treasury are pulling out all the stops to boost the flow of credit, which for now is showing up in the housing market," said Rob Wood, chief U.K. economist at Berenberg Bank in London. "The cost and availability of mortgage credit will continue to improve."
"Within the corporate sector, demand for credit from small businesses decreased significantly, reduced slightly for medium-sized companies, and was broadly unchanged for large companies," the Bank of England said. "Looking forward, lenders in the Credit Conditions Survey expected credit availability for small and medium-sized firms to be little changed in the coming quarter."
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