The amount of mortgage approvals in Jan this year rose from around 38,000 to 39,230 which is a 4% rise on the previous month and according to the figures released by the Bank of England, the rise in mortgage approvals might continue going up.

The sum of all the mortgages approved by the banks in Jan came to £4.6 billion, this is a total increase of £900 million on the previous month, however, this increase is not as large as the estimated average of £1.6 billion or even as large as the rise in approvals we saw in February of £1.5 billion, although, the total sum of money approved through mortgages in Jan, £4.6 billion, was well over the monthly average.

There was also good news regarding the building societies, the overall amount of mortgages approved by building societies rose to £1,542m which is double the amount approved in February.

Finally, the British Bankers Association released new figures regarding lending to small businesses. They said that their figures showed that lending to small businesses had risen by £271 million in Jan.This has had a knock on effect of reducing small business insurance premiums for many companies. However, the news releaased by the Treasury Committee say that small businesses are finding it even harder to borrow money that they need.

Although these figures sound good, mortgage approvals are seen to be forward thinking, the actual mortgage lending in Jan only rose by £800 million which is far less than expected and a lot less than the 6 month average of £1.2 billion.

Although all of the above figure releases are good news for the economy and the housing market, there are still concerns that house prices could slump again in the next few months, and even if they didn’t, the economy is still a very fragile area.

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