Mortgage approvals reach 18 month high

In a further sign of a housing market recovery, loan approvals for house purchase increased to 56,215 from 52,970 in August. But approvals for remortgaging continued to fall. They stood at 25,528 which was below the August figure of 28,348 aa well as the previous six-month average. The number of loans approved for other purposes were 27,956. This was higher than August's figure but below the previous six-month average. Net lending secured on dwellings increased by £0.9bn in September. Although this was weaker than the August rise of £1.3bn, it was above the previous six-month avera...