British borrowers continued to rack up debt in July, despite fears over the health of the economy and talk of the housing boom finally stalling. Total gross mortgage lending by major British banks stood at STG16.9bn in July, up 13pc from the STG14.9bn recorded the previous month, according to figures released today by the British Bankers' Association (BBA). This is the highest level of gross mortgage lending in more than two years. Year-on-year, gross mortgage lending was up 16pc in July.
Seasonally adjusted net lending stood at STG5.5bn in July, up 11pc from the STG4.9bn registered in June. The July figure is the highest since November last year. The value of new mortgage approvals was at STG20.9bn, up from STG18.6bn in June. Within this total, approvals for house purchases rose to STG10.7bn from STG9.4bn in June while remortgaging rose to STG8.2bn from STG7.4bn. Meanwhile, total net consumer credit rose to STG7.4bn, from STG6.9bn the previous month. New spending on credit cards amounted to STG396m compared with STG199m the previous month. //www.fxcentre.com