Latest update on household finance and lending for March 2018 by UK Finance

UK Finance provides an update on the state of household finance and lending for March 2018, including an assessment on card spending, mortgages and personal deposits.

• Card spending was 1.2 per cent lower than in March 2017 with repayments outstripping new lending in the first quarter of 2018. Outstanding levels of credit card borrowing have grown by 5.8 per cent over the year.
• Gross mortgage lending in March is estimated to have been £20.5bn, 2.3 per cent lower than a year earlier. The number of total mortgage approvals has also fallen and is 15 per cent lower, with house purchase approvals falling by almost 21 per cent, compared to a year earlier.
• Growth in personal deposits has grown by 1.8 per cent over the year, slightly down on the previous six-month average of 2 per cent.

Eric Leenders, Managing Director, Personal Finance, UK Finance, comments:

“March figures show that consumer borrowing was fairly modest, with card spending down and repayments outstripping lending in the first quarter of 2018.  Growth in personal deposits also increased over the year, alongside a rise in overdraft repayments.

“There was a rising trend in mortgage approvals for the first three months of 2018 although the number is slightly lower than the same period in 2017.”

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