THE number of mortgage approvals made to home buyers surged to its highest level in nearly six years.
The Bank of England said 70,758 loans worth £11.1 billion were approved in November, marking the highest total seen since 72,004 loans were given the green light in January 2008.
But the revival was not extended to business lending and the Bank's figures also showed that lending to non-financial businesses fell by £4.7bn in November, marking the biggest slide since the series started in spring 2011. Nationwide reported that house prices have surged by 8.4% over 2013 across the UK as the market revival has become increasingly broad-based. It found prices rose by 1.4% month-on-month in December to £175,826 on average, although they remain about 5% below those in late 2007.
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