The number of British loan approvals for home purchases picked up in February from a month earlier after eight months of falls but was down 35 percent from a year earlier, the British Bankers' Association said on Tuesday. The BBA said approvals - loans agreed but not yet made - rose to 47,365 last month, from 33,451 in January but were down from 72,339 in February 2004.
The association of major banking groups said February's pick-up was a sign that the slowing mortgage market trend of 2004 could be bottoming out.
"We have seen the start of the seasonal upturn in loan approvals, albeit from a very low point in the case of house purchase loans, so it will be important to see how strong the usual spring impetus will be in the coming months," said BBA director of statistics David Dooks.
The figures are not adjusted to reflect seasonal patterns in the housing market which means they can be volatile from month to month.
The BBA said underlying mortgage lending rose by 4.8 billion pounds last month.
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