Mortgage Approvals

The number of new mortgages being approved for house purchase rebounded in January, says the Bank of England.
New mortgage approvals rose by 6,000 to 120,000, just under the monthly average for the previous six months.
The figures suggest that the three increases in interest rates since last summer have done little so far to dampen down demand from house buyers.
The Nationwide building society has claimed that demand is waning, despite house price inflation rising to 10.2%.
Buoyant market
Mortgage approvals are widely seen as a good indicator of near-term trends in the property market.
The sharp fall in approvals recorded in December was hailed by some commentators as evidence of a reaction to the Bank of England''s decisions to raise interest rates by 0.75% since last August.
But most of the evidence so far suggests that the increased cost of mortgages has not been putting off would-be home buyers.
"The strong economic growth and rising employment, enjoyed by the UK at present, is supporting housing demand, even in the face of recent increases in interest rates," said David Stubbs, of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.
"While activity is past its peak and should slow gradually in coming months, price rises will continue as the market moves towards a ''soft landing''," he added.
The total value of all the new mortgage loans approved - including re-mortgaging - came to £32.2bn.
This made January''s mortgage lending figure the second-highest on record for any month.
Rising debt
One area of borrowing that has been slowing down has been credit card spending.
The amount of money outstanding on credit cards fell again, by another £247m, as their use continued to decline in popularity - a trend that started at the beginning of 2006.
However, this is still overshadowed by the continued growth in other forms of consumer credit, such as bank loans and hire purchase agreements, and the inexorable rise in mortgage debt.
As a result, UK consumers'' accumulated personal debt now stands at just under £1.3 trillion - a 35% increase in just three years.