The U.K. mortgage approvals both in terms of value and volume increased in August from July, British Bankers' Association reported Tuesday.
The number of mortgages approved for house purchases increased to 38,228, the highest since 2009, from 37,428 a month ago, it said. But the level was below 38,950 consensus.
Likewise, the value of mortgages for house purchase rose to GBP 6 billion from GBP 5.8 billion in July.
Further, data today showed that the outstanding level of unsecured borrowing grew by 0.3 percent over the year. Within this, annual growth in card borrowing of 6.7 percent outweighed personal loans and overdraft borrowing of 5.1 percent.
For the first time in four years, annual growth in household borrowing on credit cards and personal loans has turned positive and mortgages approved for house purchase are also at their highest level since 2009, BBA statistics director, David Dooks said.