banks and building socities dipped for a third month to 74,453. While this figure was at 75,100 in July, it was still slightly stronger than what economists had anticipated.
Recent studies have revealed that people continue to demand for larger homes away from city centres as work from home becomes the new normal for many. On the other hand, home buyers have just a couple of days left before Stamp-duty thresholds revert to £125,000 on 1 October.
These factors, along with low borrowing costs and savings accumulated during lockdowns have managed to maintain mortgage approvals above their pre-pandemic levels, suggesting a healthy underlying demand.
According to the central bank figures, consumer demand last month reported a restrained increase if £351 million, reflecting poor retail sales and the decline in car sales and automakers continue to struggle with the global chip shortage. This may also be a result of consumers holding on to their savings during lockdowns instead of spending. The BoE data showed that in August, Brits decided to expand their rainy day funds, as an additional £9.1 billion were deposited by households in banks and building societies. This is almost double the average inflow of £4.7 billion.
