UK MORTGAGE approvals fell to the lowest in a decade in August as slumping property values deterred buyers, a report by the British Bankers' Association showed.
Banks granted 21,086 loans for house purchase, down 64 percent from a year earlier, the London-based BBA, which represents the UK's biggest banks, said yesterday, according to Bloomberg News. The reading is the lowest since records began in September 1997. The value of mortgages for homebuyers fell to 2.8 billion pounds (US$5.2 billion), also the lowest on record.
The UK property market, which tripled in value in the decade ending last year, is "on its knees" as the global credit crisis intensifies, Rightmove Plc said on Monday.
"Falling property prices, economic pressures on households, tighter lending criteria and anticipation of the Government's announcement on stamp duty all suppressed or delayed demand in August and will continue having an impact in the months ahead," David Dooks, director of statistics at the BBA, said.
The average asking price for a home fell 1 percent in September from a month earlier. Prices withdrew 3.3 percent as compared to a year earlier.