CML: April Bank of England lending data

Commenting on today's lending data from the Bank of England, CML economist Paul Samter observed: "House purchase approvals continued to edge up in April, to 43,000 in the month on a seasonally adjusted basis. This is up from 40,000 in March and is the highest level since April last year (when the figure was 55,000, so this May's number still represents a 22% fall year-on-year).

"It looks almost inevitable that May approvals will be higher than a year ago for the first time since early 2007. However, activity remains at extremely low levels on any historic comparison - and weaker than at any point in the early 1990s. Limited lending capacity and the impact of further job losses are likely to act as a ceiling for how far the improvement can continue, although there could be further modest rises in the coming months."