Overview
These monthly statistics on the amount of, and interest rates on, borrowing and deposits by households and businesses are used by the Bank’s policy committees to understand economic trends and developments in the UK banking system.
Key points:
- Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals fell by £1.0 billion, to £2.5 billion in November.
- Net mortgage approvals for house purchases fell to 65,700 in November. Similarly, approvals for remortgaging decreased to 31,200.
- Net consumer credit borrowing by individuals has seen little change at £0.9 billion in November.
- During November, private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) borrowed, on net, £1.5 billion of finance, compared to £1.8 billion of net repayments in October.
- The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was -£2.2 billion in November, compared to £17.0 billion in October. The net outflow of M4ex was driven by non-intermediate other financial corporations’ (NIOFCs’) holdings of money, which decreased by £2.2 billion.
- The net flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was -£2.1 billion in November, compared to £11.1 billion in the previous month. Within this, NIOFCs account for £5.1 billion of net repayments in November.
References in the text point to the summary tables below. For further statistics, please see our visual summaries, Effective Rates (ER) statistical release, Capital Issuance statistical release, and Bankstats tables.
Lending to and deposits from individuals
Mortgage lending (M&C Tables D and E):
Net borrowing of mortgage debt by individuals fell by £1.0 billion to £2.5 billion in November, following an increase in net borrowing of £1.0 billion in October. The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending rose to 1.3% in November from 1.1% in October, continuing the upward trend observed since April 2024. Gross lending increased to £20.7 billion in November, from £20.3 billion in October, and little has changed in gross repayments at £18.0 billion in November.
Net mortgage approvals (that is, approvals net of cancellations) for house purchases, which is an indicator of future borrowing, decreased by 2,400 to 65,700 in November, but remained above their previous 12-month average of 60,400. Likewise, approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) decreased by 300 to 31,200 in November but remained above their previous 12-month average of 30,000 (Chart 1).
Chart 1: Mortgage approvals
Seasonally adjusted
The ‘effective’ interest rate – the actual interest paid – on newly drawn mortgages decreased by 11 basis points, to 4.50% in November, the lowest since April 2023. Over the same period, the rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages increased from 3.78% in October to 3.80% in November, a further series high.
Consumer credit (M&C Tables B and C):
In November, net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals decreased slightly to £0.9 billion, from £1.0 billion in the previous month (Chart 2). Over the same period, net borrowing through credit cards decreased from £0.4 billion in October to £0.3 billion in November. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) remained at £0.6 billion in November.
The annual growth rate for all consumer credit decreased to 6.6% in November, from 7.3% in October. Over the same period, the annual growth rates for credit card borrowing decreased to 8.0%, from 9.4%. Likewise, the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer credit fell to 5.9% from 6.3%.
Chart 2: Consumer credit
Seasonally adjusted
The effective interest rate on interest-charging overdrafts was 22.86% in November, an 8-basis point decrease from October. The effective rate on interest-bearing credit cards decreased 20 basis points in November, to 21.54% from 21.74%. Meanwhile, the effective rate on new personal loans to individuals increased by 11 basis points, to 8.96% in November.
Households’ deposits (M&C Table J):
Households’ deposits with banks and building societies increased slightly by £0.2 billion in November, following net deposits of £18.8 billion in October (which was the largest since December 2020, when it was £21.5 billion). This was driven by households depositing an additional £3.4 billion and £1.7 billion into interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing sight accounts, respectively.
Households also deposited £2.0 billion into ISAs but withdrew £2.6 billion from interest-bearing time accounts (Chart 3). Our method for seasonally adjusting the individual components of household M4, and particularly strong seasonal factors, account for the weaker flow in household deposits.
Chart 3: Breakdown of households’ deposits (Household M4)
Seasonally adjusted net flow
The effective interest rate paid on individuals’ new time deposits with banks and building societies fell by 14 basis points, to 4.02% in November. The effective rates on the outstanding stock of time and sight deposits were 3.80% and 2.21% in November respectively, from 3.86% and 2.11% in October.
Lending to and deposits from businesses
Businesses’ borrowing from banks (M&C Tables F-I):
Net borrowing of bank and building society loans (including overdrafts) by UK non-financial businesses (PNFCs and public corporations) increased to £6.0 billion in November, up from £3.2 billion in October. Within this measure, net borrowing by large non-financial businesses rose to £5.7 billion, from £2.5 billion. Net borrowing by small and medium-sized non-financial businesses (SMEs) decreased to £0.3 billion from £0.6 billion.
The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses increased to 4.0% in November from 2.2% in October, while the annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs increased to -2.6% over the same period, from -2.9% (Chart 4).
Chart 4: Annual growth of lending to SMEs and large businesses
Seasonally adjusted
The average cost of new borrowing from banks by UK PNFCs was 6.56% in November, down from 6.68% in October. The effective interest rate on new loans to SMEs also decreased, by 9 basis points, to 7.17% in November.
Net Finance Raised (M&C Table F):
PNFCs borrowed, on net, £1.5 billion of finance in November, an increase from £1.8 billion of net repayments in October. This was driven by £2.9 billion of net borrowing through loans from banks and building societies and £0.7 billion of net commercial paper issuances. These were partially offset by £2.2 billion of net equity buybacks and £0.2 billion of net bond redemptions (Chart 5).
Chart 5: Net finance raised by PNFCs
Seasonally adjusted net flow
Businesses’ deposits:
In November, UK non-financial businesses withdrew £6.2 billion from banks and building societies in all currencies, following from similar sized withdrawals in October. The effective rate on new time deposits from PNFCs fell by 8 basis points to 4.22% in November, and the effective rate on stock sight deposits also decreased, to 2.59%, from 2.68% in the previous month.
Aggregate money (M4ex) and lending (M4Lex) (M&C Table J)
The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was -£2.2 billion in November, compared to £17.0 billion in October. The net outflow of M4ex was driven by non-intermediate other financial corporations’ (NIOFCs’) holdings of money, which decreased by £2.2 billion in November. PNFCs also decreased their holdings of money by £0.2 billion, while households increased their holdings of money by £0.2 billion.
The net flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was -£2.1 billion in November, compared to £11.1 billion in the previous month. November’s repayments were driven by NIOFCs, which repaid £5.1 billion. This was partly offset by household and PNFC borrowing of £2.2 billion and £0.7 billion respectively.
Queries
If you have any comments or queries about this release, please email DSD_MS@bankofengland.co.uk.
Next release date: 30 January 2025
