According to figures released by the British
Bankers Association,
mortgage
approvals slumped to a record low of just over 21,000 during
June, some 66.9 per cent down on figures from the year
before.
The fall was the greatest since records started in September 1997,
the BBA said in a report. The figures, they said, indicate that the
housing market downturn is actually accelerating, despite
recent hopes that the
credit crunch could be over.
The director of statistics at the BBA, David Dooks, reportedly
commented: Another record low number of
mortgages approved by the
banks for
house purchase means that the whole market is likely to be at
its least active since the early 1990s.
