Jump in number of mortgage approvals for buyers

The number of mortgage approvals made to home buyers jumped in March to the highest level since September 2022, according to Bank of England figures.

In an indication of property sales to come, mortgage approvals for house purchases rose from 60,500 in February to 61,300 in March.

It was the highest total since more than 65,300 mortgages for house purchase got the green light in September 2022.

Approvals for remortgaging decreased from 37,700 to 34,200 over the same period, according to the Bank of England’s Money and Credit report.

The report was released as HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) figures showed that home sales across the UK increased for the third month in a row in March.

Some 84,200 home sales took place in March, which was 6% lower than March 2023 but 1% higher than February 2024.

In the financial year 2023-24, around 999,460 home sales took place – marking the lowest level of residential transactions since financial year 2012-13. Home sales in 2023-24 fell by 17% compared with 2022-23, when 1,208,310 transactions took place.

Colby Short, co-founder and chief executive of GetAgent. co.uk, said: “Despite mortgage rates remaining far higher than in recent years, the stability that has come due to a static base rate has allowed buyers to act with greater confidence.”

Emily Williams, director of research at estate agent Savills, said: “We expect the market to continue to be somewhat stop-start until the Bank of England can definitively signal the end of the battle to control inflation through a cut to the base rate.”