Mortgage lending in Britain declines

LONDON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Mortgage lending in Britain in October fell close to the record low set in August with approved loans declining 52 percent from October 2007, bankers said.

In October, 21,584 mortgages were approved, compared with 23,383 in September and 21,363 in August, the British Banker's Association said Tuesday, The Times of London reported.

Lending in the month fell from $5.3 billion in September to $4.4 billion, the bankers said.

Consumer credit was nearly flat in October, rising $0.45 billion, slightly higher than September's increase of $0.3 billion.

As the economic climate has changed, "comparison of current lending levels with last year is obscured by the very different economic conditions that exist now," David Dooks, the statistics director at the BBA, told The Times.

"Mortgage approvals remained low, consumer credit was subdued, and people used their deposits to fund spending in October," he said.