Investment Property News - Bueno Investments Limited

The number of mortgages approved for people buying a home has plunged by 46% as the credit crunch continues, figures show.

Mortgage approvals for house purchase slumped to 35,417 in March, the lowest level since the British Bankers' Association first began collecting statistics in 1997.

Across the board just 129,300 mortgages for all purposes were approved during the month, the lowest level since September 2000, as the market continued to be constrained by lenders' higher rates and tighter lending criteria.

Mortgage advances were also subdued, with a total of £16.6bn advanced during March, £1bn less than in February and 14.7% less than in the same month of 2007.

The BBA said it expected gross lending to continue to weaken due to the continuing decline in mortgage approvals. Net lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, totalled £5.1bn, down from £5.5bn in February.

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