UK net mortgage approvals fell slightly in November | investingLive

• Mortgage approvals 64,530 vs 65,010 prior
• Net consumer credit £2.08 billion vs £1.71 billion prior

Overall, net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals increased to £4.5 billion in November, following a decrease of £1.0 billion to £4.2 billion in the month of October. Meanwhile, the annual growth rate for net mortgage lending increased slightly to 3.3% in November – the highest since January 2023.

Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals also increased to £2.08 billion with the breakdown showing £1.0 billion for net borrowing through credit cards and £1.1 billion in net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit.

Looking at the annual growth rate for all consumer credit, that picked up to 8.1% in November as compared to 7.5% in October last year.

All of this continues to point to the notion that UK credit conditions are still holding up somewhat as lenders are cautiously increasing household credit availability with easing affordability checks. This is one area that won’t be too much of a bother for the BOE for the moment at least.

As such, the central bank will be afforded scope to keep their focus on the inflation front as well as trying to balance things out amid the ever deepening cost of living crisis that is sweeping across the UK. So, that will once again be the key theme in looking out for the UK economy again in 2026.