Household Finance Update

We compile regular data to reflect the mainstream banking and finance activities of households in the UK.

Trends covering the scope of member support for UK households, through the provision of secured and unsecured loans, holdings of cash and longer-term deposits.  Data is shown across lending products.

Latest Data - April 2019 (Published on 28/05/2019)

Key data highlights:

• Gross mortgage lending across the residential market in April 2019 was £20.3 billion, some 1.4 per cent lower than the same month in 2018 (see chart 2).
• The number of mortgages approved by the main high street banks in April 2019 was 5.4 per cent higher than the same month in 2018; approvals for home purchase were 8.6 per cent higher, remortgage approvals were 2.2 per cent higher and approvals for other secured borrowing were 0.8 per cent higher (see chart 3).
• The £11.4 billion of credit card spending in April 2019 was 11.7 per cent higher than the same month in 2018 (see chart 4). This growth in spending reflects consumers' increased preference for using credit cards as a means of payment, particularly online, because of purchase protection and card benefits. Repayments have remained in line with credit card spending, showing overall that consumers are managing their finances effectively.
• Personal borrowing through loans in April 2019 was 7.8 per cent higher than the same month a year ago (see chart 5). Lending through overdrafts in April 2019 was 0.9 per cent higher compared to same month last year (see chart 6).
• Personal deposits in total grew by 0.9 per cent in the year to April 2019. Deposits held in instant access accounts were 2.4 per cent higher than last April (see chart 7).

Household Lending and Deposits Update - April 2019

PDF XLSX Long run data - UK Finance members only