Home loans at a 10-year low
Mortgage lending by British banks last year fell to the lowest net level since 2000 and bank robberies rose for the first time in seven years as the recession took its toll.
Net mortgage lending by British banks fell to £36.3bn last year, compared with £59.4bn the year before and almost £80bn in 2006, according to data released by the British Bankers’ Association yesterday.
The BBA said banks were at least net lenders. Overall net mortgage lending last year was £7.8bn, as lending by building societies contracted by £7.6bn and specialist lenders withdrew £22.4bn.
Loans by specialists, including buy-to-let and sub-prime loan providers, contracted by a net £48bn in the last two years after helping fuel the property boom that contributed to the financial crisis.
There were 114 bank robberies last year, up 10 per cent from 2008, BBA data showed.
The level of robberies remains low by historical levels, however. During the last recession there were 684 robberies during 1991 and 847 in 1992. Britain accounts for a relatively small share of bank robberies across Europe – there were an estimated 4,726 in 2008, almost half of which were in Italy.
Attacks on ATM cash dispensers in Britain jumped 30 per cent last year to a record 241,
including 28 ATMs removed from premises.
The BBA data showed the impact of recession and the financial crisis in several other areas: there were 46,000 properties repossessed, the highest since 1995, and the assets of all banks in Britain fell by almost four per cent to £7.6 trillion, the first contraction since 1991.