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 decreased sharply by £13.7 billion to -£0.8 billion in April. This followed an increase in net borrowing by £9.6 billion in March.
- Net mortgage approvals for house purchases decreased for the fourth consecutive month, with a fall of 3,100 to 60,500 in April. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging increased by 1,600, to 35,300 in April.
- Net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals was £1.6 billion in April, up from £1.1 billion in the previous month. Within this, net borrowing through credit cards increased to £0.8 billion in April, from £0.4 billion in March. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit increased slightly to £0.8 billion, from £0.7 billion over the same period.
- Private non-financial corporations (PNFCs) repaid, on net, £2.4 billion of finance in April, following net repayments of £0.7 billion in March.
- The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was £6.2 billion in April, compared to £12.7 billion in March. Within this, non-intermediate other financial corporations (NIOFCs) and households increased their holdings of money, by £6.5 billion and £3.0 billion respectively, while PNFCs decreased their holdings of money by £3.3 billion.
- The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was £1.2 billion in April, compared to £17.0 billion in March. PNFCs and NIOFCs accounted for £1.8 billion and £0.1 billion respectively, within this flow. Net lending to households offset these increases slightly by a decrease of £0.7 billion.
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 decreased sharply by £13.7 billion to -£0.8 billion in April. This followed an increase in net borrowing by £9.7 billion to £13.0 billion in March. The annual growth rate for net mortgage lending decreased from 2.7% to 2.5% in April. Gross lending decreased significantly to £16.9 billion in April, from £39.9 billion in March, which was the greatest fall since June 2021 (£42.4 billion). Gross repayments also decreased in April to £18.4 billion, from £23.7 billion.
Net mortgage approvals (that is, approvals net of cancellations) for house purchases, which is an indicator of future borrowing, decreased for the fourth consecutive month, with a fall of 3,100 to 60,500 in April. By contrast, approvals for remortgaging (which only capture remortgaging with a different lender) increased by 1,600 to 35,300 in April, following an increase of 1,000 in March (Chart 1).
Chart 1: Mortgage approvals
Seasonally adjusted
The ‘effective’ interest rate – the actual interest paid – on newly drawn mortgages slightly decreased, to 4.49% in April. However, the rate on the outstanding stock of mortgages increased to 3.86% from 3.84%.
Consumer credit (M&C Tables B and C):
In April, net borrowing of consumer credit by individuals increased to £1.6 billion, from £1.1 billion in the previous month (Chart 2). Within this, net borrowing through credit cards increased to £0.8 billion in April, from £0.4 billion in March. Net borrowing through other forms of consumer credit (such as car dealership finance and personal loans) increased slightly to £0.8 billion, from £0.7 billion over the same period.
The annual growth rate for all consumer credit increased to 6.7% in April, from 6.2% in March. Over the same period, the annual growth rate for credit card borrowing increased to 9.8% from 8.5%, and the annual growth rate for other forms of consumer credit slightly increased to 5.3% from 5.2%.
Chart 2: Consumer credit
Seasonally adjusted
The effective interest rate on interest-charging overdrafts increased by 7 basis points, to 22.35% in April. The effective rate on interest-charging credit cards decreased by 9 basis points, to 21.45%. The effective rate on new personal loans to individuals increased by 29 basis points, to 8.69%.
Households’ deposits (M&C Table J):
Households’ deposits with banks and building societies increased by £3.0 billion in April, following net deposits of £7.3 billion in March. This was driven by households depositing an additional £14.0 billion into ISAs, the highest amount on record since the series started in April 1999. This was mostly offset by the withdrawal of £11.5 billion from interest-bearing sight accounts and £6.3 billion from non-interest bearing sight accounts (Chart 3).
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 rose by 7 basis points, to 4.02% in April. The effective rates on the outstanding stock of time and sight deposits were 3.61% and 1.99% respectively, down from 3.62% and 2.01% in March.
Lending to and deposits from businesses
Businesses’ borrowing from banks (M&C Tables G-I):
In April, UK non-financial businesses (PNFCs and public corporations) borrowed, on net, £1.2 billion of loans from banks and building societies (including overdrafts), following £2.0 billion of net borrowing in March. Within this measure, large non-financial businesses borrowed, on net, £1.3 billion, compared to £1.8 billion of net borrowing in March. Small and medium-sized non-financial businesses (SMEs) borrowing was flat, following net borrowing of £0.2 billion in March.
The annual growth rate of borrowing by large businesses increased to 5.8% in April from 5.4% in March. The annual growth rate of borrowing by SMEs increased for the 13th consecutive month, rising from -1.2% to -0.8% (Chart 4).
Chart 4: Annual growth of lending to SMEs and large businesses
Seasonally adjusted
The effective interest rate on new loans from banks to UK PNFCs increased to 6.39% in April, from 6.21% in March. The effective interest rate on new loans to SMEs increased, by 4 basis points, to 6.79%.
Net Finance Raised (M&C Table F):
PNFCs repaid, on net, £2.4 billion of finance in April, following net repayments of £0.7 billion in March. This was driven by £3.2 billion of net equity buybacks, £0.9 billion of net repayments to banks and building societies, and £0.8 billion of net bond redemptions. These were partially offset by £0.9 billion of net commercial paper issuance (Chart 5).
Chart 5: Net finance raised by PNFCs
Seasonally adjusted net flow
Businesses’ deposits:
In April, UK non-financial businesses withdrew £7.0 billion from banks and building societies in all currencies, following net deposits of £15.7 billion in March. The effective rate on new time deposits from PNFCs fell by 5 basis points to 3.90% in April, while the effective rate on stock sight deposits increased, to 2.39%, from 2.37% in the previous month.
Aggregate money (M4ex) and lending (M4Lex) (M&C Tables J and K)
The net flow of sterling money (known as M4ex) was £6.2 billion in April, compared to £12.7 billion in March. Within this, NIOFCs and households increased their holdings of money by £6.5 billion and £3.0 billion respectively. By contrast, PNFCs decreased their holdings of money by £3.3 billion in April.
The flow of sterling net lending to private sector companies and households (M4Lex) was £1.2 billion in April, compared to £17.0 billion in March. April’s lending was mostly driven by £1.8 billion of net lending to PNFCs, following £1.0 billion of net lending in March. During this month, there was also a decrease of £0.7 billion of net lending to households.
Queries
If you have any comments or queries about this release, please email DSD_MS@bankofengland.co.uk.
Next release date: 30 June 2025
