December mortgage approvals up

The number of new mortgages approved for home buyers picked up slightly in December, says the Bank of England. There were 31,000 mortgage approvals, up from 27,000 in November, but still the second lowest figure on record. At the same time, HM Revenue & Customs said that property sales were picking up. But lending and industry experts have warned that banks are still short of money and mortgage lending is still likely to decline. Over the whole of 2008, lending slumped by 58%, with just 519,000 home loans approved, compared with 1,250,000 in 2007.