BoE Mortgage Lending (Sep.23)

The drop in mortgage approvals in September left them a third below their usual level in the years leading up to the pandemic as high mortgage rates put homeowners off moving and priced many first-time buyers out of the market. Given the small decline in mortgage rates since their peak in July, mortgage approvals have probably now bottomed out. But we don’t think there will be any kind of meaningful recovery until the second half of next year.