Bank of England (BoE) Mortgage Approvals

The Bank of England Mortgage Approvals reflect the number of new mortgages approved during the previous month by UK mortgage lenders. A mortgage approval in this report is a lender's firm offer of a cash loan secured by a particular dwelling. This is an approved lending offer, regardless of whether it is accepted by the client.

Statistics collected by the BoE features three types of approved secured mortgages:

• House purchase lending (approvals for lending fully secured on dwellings through a primary mortgage)
• Remortgaging (allowing the borrower to pay for the current mortgage by lending provided by another lender)
• Other lending (increasing the current mortgage with the same lender to improve housing, etc.).

Three main types of lenders provide mortgages and submit related reports to the Bank of England and other government agencies.

• UK-resident banks. They provide monthly credit reports directly to the Bank of England.
• Building societies are specialized banks, which provide targeted housing loans. Data from building societies are also collected on a permanent basis and provided in special forms.
• Other specialist lenders. Data from them are collected by the Office for National Statistics.

Mortgage approvals serve as a leading indicator of near-term mortgage lending. However, prior to indicator publication, a number of alternative mortgage reports are released, that is why it has a limited impact on GBP quotes as a rule.