British banks approved the fewest mortgages in 13 months and consumer confidence is lower than at any time since last year's Brexit vote because of a weaker housing market, according to surveys that add to a downbeat outlook for the economy. The figures came two days after finance minister Philip Hammond tried to offer voters some relief with spending plans that focused on housing, including scrapping a property purchase tax for most first-time home-buyers.
Britain's economy has slowed this year as the higher inflation triggered by the June 2016 referendum to leave the European Union ate into households' disposable income, leaving it lagging behind many of the economies in Europe and beyond. On Wednesday, British budget forecasters cut sharply their growth projections over the next five years, in large part because they took a more pessimistic view about the chances of much improvement in productivity.
The housing market has cooled sharply this year and the UK Finance trade association said on Friday banks approved 40,488 mortgages for house purchase last month, down from 41,576 in September and 3 percent less than in October 2016. The number of remortgages jumped to 34,036 from 30,499 in September as homeowners anticipated the BoE rate hike on November 2.
Annual growth in credit card lending slowed, while lending to non-financial businesses dropped by a net 1.501 billion pounds ($2 billion), the sharpest fall since February. Earlier on Friday, a survey from polling company YouGov and economics consultancy Cebr showed consumer sentiment had fallen to its lowest level since just after the Brexit vote.
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