UK Mortgage Approvals Rise for First Time in Year

London, England, Oct. 30, 2008--UK mortgage approvals for house purchases rose in September for the first time in more than a year, but remained near record lows, new figures from the Bank of England show.

The bank said mortgage approvals for new house purchases rose to 33,000 last month from a record low of 32,000 in August, the first rise since June 2007, but at the second lowest level recorded since the series began in 1993. The level is also more than 67 per cent lower than the 101,000 mortgages approved in September last year.

Economists said the slight upturn in approvals did not indicate a recovery. Howard Archer, of Global Insight, the economic consultancy, said: "This is another very weak set of Bank of England mortgage approvals and lending data that suggests that the downturn in housing market activity and prices still has a long way to run."