30 March 2026
If you are covering the latest Bank of England money and credit statistics, please see the following comment from Karen Noye, mortgage ex/pert at Quilter:
“The latest money and credit statistics from the Bank of England provide a snapshot of what could have been for the mortgage and housing market. Net mortgage borrowing rose to £4.8 billion in February, up from £4.2 billion in January and above the previous six-month average of £4.5 billion. Meanwhile, the annual growth rate for net mortgage lending also increased to 3.4% up from 3.3% in January, house purchase approvals rose slightly to 62,600 in February down from 60,200 in January, and remortgaging approvals came in at 41,200, up from 38,500.
“Given this data captures February, and March saw a rapid reversal of any real progress that had been made in terms of mortgage rates and buyer confidence, we can expect this positive shift to be very short lived. Prospective home buyers and movers who were holding out for lower interest rates will have had their hopes dashed since the start of the Iranian conflict. The Bank of England had been expected to make at least one or two cuts this year, but now it seems a hold or even an uptick is more likely. Lenders had been offering slightly more competitive rates prior to the start of the war, and this is reflected in today’s figures which show the effect rate on newly drawn mortgages was 4.10% in February, roughly in line with the 4.09% seen in January. However, this will have changed considerably in the month since.
“Elsewhere, the end of the tax year has seen households pile money into their savings, with a particular focus on ISAs. Households added £5.8 billion to total deposits with banks and building societies in February, up from £4.3 billion in January, and included an additional £4.6 billion into ISAs.
“While some households have been able to keep their savings topped up, others are having to turn to borrowing. Net borrowing of consumer credit rose to £1.9 billion in February, up from £1.8 billion in January. This included £0.8 billion in credit card borrowing, for which the annual growth rate is currently 12.1%. This expensive debt has been a crutch for some households and should the cost of living increase as expected given rising energy and food costs, there is a risk that more people will turn to it to help them make ends meet.”
