Mortgage approvals hit new high
Mortgage approvals have hit their highest level in over a year and a half, according to new figures from the Bank of England.
The data comes as Nationwide has revealed that house prices climbed 1.4 per cent in January, their biggest monthly rise since summer 2004.
Around 122,000 mortgages were approved in total during December, a 48.8 per cent increase on the year before and 6,000 more than in November.
It is the largest monthly number of house purchase loans approved since the house price boom reached its peak in May 2004.
Approvals for other purposes increased by 1,000, although those for remortgaging fell by 2,000.
David Stubbs, an economist at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics), said: 'Mortgage approvals are clearly above their average for the last decade of 100,000, strengthening the argument that the housing market in 2006 will see the first rise in activity since 2002, after three consecutive years of decline.'
Rics predicts that 1.33 million mortgages will be approved in 2006, more than were approved in 2005, but still below levels seen in 2002 before the house price boom. | 
