Mortgage approvals have risen by the biggest margin for three years in February according to the FT. In addition, lending to companies has also grown at its strongest pace in almost a year.

Other good news is also from RICS and Hometrack. The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) are reporting increased enquiries from new buyers, and property expert Hometrack has reported house prices are declining at a slower pace.

“It adds to the glimmers of hope that the UK is nearing a bottom, or will reach the bottom in the first quarter of this year,” said Colin Ellis, an economist at Daiwa Securities SMBC, whose forecasts for the UK economy are among the least optimistic in the City of London.

Whilst there is still a long way to go until approvals and company lending meet anywhere near their earlier peak levels, it is heart warming to see some good news on the property front.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 at 4:29 pm and is filed under finance general, mortgages, property market general. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.