U.K. Consumer Credit Muted in September Amid Brexit Uncertainty

(Bloomberg) --

U.K. demand for debt was subdued last month as the prospect of Brexit kept a lid on spending.

Mortgage approvals were little changed, credit card borrowing fell to the lowest this year and overall consumer credit growth slowed to the weakest since 2014, Bank of England figures published Tuesday showed.

Key Insights

• Mortgage approvals were little changed from August at 65,919. Actual mortgage lending was also steady at 3.8 billion pounds ($5 billion)
  
• Consumer credit rose 6% from a year earlier, the weakest pace since July 2014 and down from growth rates above 10% in 2017
  
• However, the BOE also revised up consumer credit growth for the past 2 1/2 years. The August figure was revised to 6.1% from 5.4% originally
  
• Borrowing on credit cards slipped to 114 million pounds, the lowest since December. Other loans fell to 714 million pounds
  
• Lending to non-financial business fell to 2 billion pounds.
  
• Non-resident investors sold net 721 million pounds of U.K. government bonds following purchases of more than 7 billion pounds in August
  

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