BBA statistics director, David Dooks said:

"January saw the high street banks approve more mortgages for house purchase than of late, despite low household confidence, as some people try to complete transactions before the stamp duty holiday ends in March. Demand for unsecured personal borrowing remains low as consumers continue to repay debt.

Business borrowing remains generally subdued as challenging trading and market conditions continue to suppress demand".

Annual growth of 1.3% in the banks’ net mortgage lending continues to outstrip annual growth of 0.8% across the whole lending market in 2011.

Gross mortgage lending of £8.3bn in January 2012 was 2.2% more than in January a year earlier and the same level as the recent six month average. Capital repayment by householders remains at a high level, resulting in a net mortgage lending increase of only £0.7bn in January.   

The number of house purchase applications approved in January 2012 was the highest seen for two years and 34% higher than in January 2011.  This strength reflects first time buyers taking advantage of the stamp duty exemption before it ends in March.  Remortgage approvals remain at similar levels to recent months. 

The average house purchase mortgage (£144,400) was slightly higher than a year earlier. 

Approvals for other secured lending in January continued to decline, being some 2.4% lower than in January 2011. 

New spending on credit cards of £7.1bn was above the recent six month average, though as regularly seen, monthly spending is more than offset by repayments.   

Demand from consumers for loans and overdrafts remained weak with repayment of loan and overdraft borrowing continuing to outweigh new lending resulting in a continued annual contraction.  

As market surveys suggest a poor start to 2012, demand for borrowing from industry remains subdued as economic concerns and low confidence impact business borrowing behaviour. 

*From January 2011 definitional changes to categories led to some series breaks.  For comparative purposes, ‘property related’ covers real estate activities & building development, ‘construction’ covers all construction activities except building development. 

Full tables can be found here