British mortgage approvals for house purchases fell in November to their lowest since records began a decade ago, data showed yesterday, putting further pressure on policymakers to get banks lending again.Mortgage approvals - a leading indicator of housing demand - fell to 27,000 in November from a downwardly revised 31,000 in October. That was well below forecasts and the lowest level since the series began in January 1999.
Mortgage lending rose by 740 million pounds in November, but was still less than a tenth of its rate a year ago when the housing market was just starting to come off the boil.
Growth in consumer credit was broadly steady at 751 million pounds in November.
"There just doesn't seem to be any floor at the moment to any of the housing market data," said Matthew Sharratt, UK economist at Bank of America.
"House price indicators will continue to tumble in coming months."
Further bad news came from the CIPS/Market PMI survey, also published today, which showed Britain's manufacturing sector contracted for the eighth month running in December and at the fastest rate since the survey began 17 years ago.
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