Home loan approvals rose modestly last month, but analysts are not over-optimistic.
The number of mortgages approved for home purchase rose slightly in September, according to figures from the Bank of England. Its latest Lending to Individuals report shows that 33,000 home loans were approved last month, up from 32,000 in August.
September also saw an increase in the number of people remortgaging their homes, with 72,000 deals being approved during the month compared to 64,000 a month earlier.
The mortgage approvals figure was up for the first time since June 2007 and was a welcome improvement on the record low witnessed in August. However, it was still below the average for the past six months, the report states.
Commenting, David Page, an economist at Investec, told Reuters: "The mortgage approvals data show a market bumping around on the bottom. This is certainly nothing like an inflection point and we see this demonstrating an economy that is severely credit constrained."
According to the data, net mortgage lending rose by £2.2 billion in September. While this was higher than analysts had expected and followed a fall of £0.7 billion in August, it was still well below last year's figure.
Mortgage lending by building societies also picked up last month, although it was 47 percent lower than last September's level, the Building Societies Association said.
