UK Finance estimates that overall gross mortgage lending in August was £24.2 billion, of which £15.1 billion was lent by High Street Banks. Accounting for seasonal factors, this figure is in the same ball park as monthly lending over the course of 2017.

UK Finance estimates that overall gross mortgage lending in August was £24.2 billion, of which £15.1 billion was lent by High Street Banks. Accounting for seasonal factors, this figure is in the same ball park as monthly lending over the course of 2017.

House purchase approvals by the High Street banks reached 41,807 in August, stronger than the monthly average of 41,133 over the last six months and 11% higher than the same time last year when the market was subdued following the referendum result.

The combined level of unsecured personal borrowing from High Street banks, through personal loans, credit cards and overdrafts, is showing only modest annual growth of 1.5% p.a., in contrast to the stronger consumer credit growth measure from the Bank of England of 9.8% p.a. which also includes point of sale, in-store or specialist finance products available to households.

Companies continue to grow cashflow and reserves held in bank deposits.  Current deposit levels in High Street banks are 8.2% higher than a year ago.

Commenting on the data, UK Finance's Senior Economist Mohammad Jamei said: 

Housing market activity is in Goldilocks territory, growing only modestly since the start of the year, though the mix of activity has shifted towards first-time buyers, away from buy-to-let and cash. There is also some rebalancing across regions, as activity picks up in the north of England, Wales and Scotland, away from London, the south east and east Anglia.

Despite resilience in consumer spending, annual growth in consumer credit has been slowing over the last few months. Across the UK some households have opted to save a little less, whilst others have not increased their borrowing. Meanwhile there has been growth in business deposits as non-financial companies hold cashflow and reserves amidst broader uncertainty in their trading conditions.