Mortgage approvals have fallen below pre-pandemic levels as higher interest rates and a fall in take-home pay take their toll.
The number of mortgages approved fell to 66,000 in April from 69,500 in March, according to the latest money and credit figures published by the Bank of England.
The average rate for a new mortgage rose to 1.82% in April, up from 1.5% in December after the Bank of England raised interest rates four times over the period to reach a 13-year high of 1%. Financial markets have predicted that the bank will once again raise interest rates by 0.25 percentage points at the next meeting of its monetary policy committee in mid-June.
