More gloom on the housing front with survey results from the British Bankers Association.

Latest figures from the Major British Banking Groups, for November 2004, show that:

Total sterling lending to the UK private sector showed a net increase of £11.0bn (+1.1%) to £1,064.7bn. This was slightly stronger than Octobers rise of £10.7bn but weaker than the average rise for the previous six months of £12.0bn.

Underlying net mortgage lending rose by £4.0bn. This was the weakest seasonally adjusted monthly flow since January 2002. Growth in overall unsecured personal lending (+£1.0bn) was stronger than October.

Whilst credit card borrowing (+£0.2bn) was a little lower than in recent months, loans and overdrafts rose by £0.8bn after increasing by only £0.3bn in October; well up on the recent average (£0.5bn).

Lending to non-financial companies increased slightly in November. Borrowing by real estate companies (+£1.3bn) was in line with the average for the last few months. Lending to wholesale and retail trade decreased by £1.1bn after rising by £0.5bn last month.

David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, said:

Mortgage lending continued to weaken in November, in line with recent approvals data. Within consumer credit, credit card borrowing was fairly weak despite stronger than expected retail sales figures, while other personal borrowing saw the strongest growth for some months after being very subdued in October.Once again, strong lending to real estate companies dominated lending to the non-financial sector, in a month when the banks saw net repayments from most other industrial categories.

20 December 2004