The number of home loans approved in May was a record low and about a third of the level seen at the worst point in 2008.
Mortgage approvals in the UK slumped to their lowest level on record in May according Bank of England data that pointed to cautious spending behaviour by households during lockdown.
The figures also showed consumers and businesses continued to put aside large amounts in their accounts - adding up to £157bn so far during the crisis - while shoppers paid off more debts. The Bank's data showed 9,273 home loans were approved in May, down from 15,851 in April and well short of economists' expectations of a recovery in the number to 25,000.It was 90% lower than in February and the lowest level since comparable records began in 1997 - about a third of the lowest point seen during the financial crisis in 2008.
Before the coronavirus lockdown, mortgage approvals were running at a level of around 70,000 a month. Restrictions on housing market house viewings were eased in mid-May.Some had expected to see"very tentative green shoots" in the figures, according to Elizabeth Martins, senior economist at HSBC, but this had not come.
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