Londoners hit by low mortgage approvals
FALLING mortgage approvals have hit Londoners harder than people from any other region of the UK, according to a group of surveyors.
Purchase approvals in the capital dropped 13 per cent on a non-seasonally adjusted basis in July after a push to meet lending targets in June, when approvals rose by 12 per cent. Across the UK, approvals dropped by 2.5 per cent, E.Surv announced yesterday.
The capital’s less affluent buyers were hardest hit, struggling to secure mortgages due to tight lending conditions. Approvals for properties up to £250,000 accounted for only 40 per cent of all July approvals, down from 43 per cent in June, the survey said.
Meanwhile, asking prices in Britain have been discounted by the highest levels in over a year, the website Zoopla.co.uk revealed yesterday. Chiming with findings from the Rightmove index, it found that vendors have been forced to knock off an average of £18,597 from property prices in an effort to seduce buyers.
Vendors in the north have been forced to make the biggest cuts to prices, with Bolton, Glasgow and Newcastle-upon-Type suffering the most. Prices in the south east have remained the most resilient.