According to the report from the Bank of England, net mortgage borrowing was £3.3 billion in April, down from a record £11.5 billion in March. Mortgage approvals for house purchase were 86,900 in April, up a touch from March (83,400), but lower than the recent peak of 103,400 in November 2020. Economists had expected an increase to 84,975.

Individuals continued making net repayments of consumer credit in April (£0.4 billion). The effective rate on new personal loans remained low at 5.65%, compared to 7.03% in January 2020.

Households’ deposit flows fell in April, to £10.7 billion. Deposit interest rates remained at historically low levels.

Large businesses made net repayments of £4.8 billion in April, whilst net bank borrowing by small and medium sized businesses was £0.3 billion. Private non-financial companies repaid £0.6 billion of finance to capital markets in April, compared to a monthly average net issuance of £3.6 billion since March 2020.