The number of loan approvals for house purchase was 64,766 in June, compared to the average of 69,998 over the previous six months.
Remortgage, however, saw higher appovals, with 43,102, compared to the average of 41,592 over the previous six months. The number of approvals for other purposes was 12,347, broadly in line with the average over the previous six months.
Jonathan Harris, director of mortgage broker Anderson Harris, says:
"Total mortgage lending in June was down slightly on the six-month average while the number of loan approvals for house purchase and remortgaging were also both down compared to the average over the past six months. The market was clearly slowing down for the summer, perhaps slightly earlier than we might have normally expected. However, this is hardly surprising with landlords bringing forwards buying decisions to avoid paying higher stamp duty after April while other buyers may have been waiting for the outcome of the Referendum before making any decisions.
"Now the vote is out of the way but we are into the summer when you would expect to see lower volume of transactions as everyone heads off on their holidays. September’s data will give a much better indication of how recent events have impacted the housing market - we would normally expect an increase in approvals for house purchase as people return from their summer holidays and start making decisions again but we will see.
"It looks likely that the next move in interest rates will be downwards, perhaps as early as next week. Mortgage rates are already exceptionally low and this is won’t change anytime soon, which should help support activity in the market."
