UK mortgage approvals dropped to 54,900 in August, the lowest since December 2023. Annual consumer credit growth hit 9.6%, the fastest pace since the mid-2000s boom, and that combination keeps the Bank of England leaning away from a rate cut.
Deputy Governor Dave Ramsden left a rate hike on the table even as house-purchase approvals slipped to their weakest since late 2023. Source
British households are telling two different stories at once. One says they're priced out of the mortgage market. The other says they're still spending freely on plastic. The Bank of England's (BoE) Money and Credit data for August, released Tuesday, shows both are true, and that gap is exactly the kind of demand signal that keeps a rate cut off the table.
