UK mortgage approvals reach highest in 2 years

Bloomberg

Demand for mortgages jumped last month to the highest since early 2017, according to data.
Loans for house purchases rose almost 11% from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted 43,342, lobby group UK Finance said. The report covers seven high street banks representing around 60% of total mortgage lending, data on which are due to be published by the Bank of England on August 30.
Meanwhile, credit card spending was 8.2% higher than it July 2018, while borrowing grew by 3.8% in the year. Spending hit a record 12 billion pounds in the month, while repayments reached a record. UK Finance said this shows that consumers are “managing their finances
effectively overall.”