Mortgage approval numbers recover after EU referendum lull

The number of mortgages approved for house purchases increased for a second month in a row in October as the property market recovered from a lull after the EU referendum.

Bank of England figures showed 67,518 home loans were given the go-ahead, up from 63,594 in September and the highest number since March.

Consumer lending also surged, according to the figures - prompting a warning on the risk that some could be getting into trouble with debt ahead of Christmas.

The number of mortgage approvals was ahead of the 65,000 expected by economists and a continued uptick after the number slipped to 61,381 in August.

Martin Beck, senior economic adviser to the EY ITEM Club, said: "Housing market activity faltered in the middle of the year, which is likely to reflect uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum and distortions caused by April's increase in stamp duty on second homes and buy-to-let properties.

"However, mortgage activity has recovered and is now at similar levels to those seen through much of 2015."

The Bank figures also showed a £1.6bn increase in consumer credit during last month.

The year-on-year increase of 10.5% in consumer loans was the strongest in 11 years.

Ruth Gregory, UK economist at Capital Economics, said the figures "provided further evidence that the slowdown in mortgage lending has bottomed out and that consumers' appetite for debt hasn't been affected much by the Brexit vote".

But Peter Tutton, head of policy at StepChange Debt Charity, warned: "With Christmas on the horizon, there is a real risk of adding to the millions of people already struggling with high levels of persistent debt."