Mortgage borrowing and saving hit record levels
Savers continued to put more money into low-paying cash savings accounts last month while mortgage borrowing hit a record high.
Data from the Bank of England shows households put £16.2 billion into cash deposits in March, above the monthly average of £15.2 billion during the past year.
This remains well above the monthly average of £5.6 billion in the six months to February 2020.
However, the effective interest rate paid on new deposits with banks is still at historic lows of 0.49 per cent, the Bank of England said.
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The figures also showed net mortgage borrowing hit a record high in March at £11.8 billion.
Mortgage approvals for house purchase were at 82,700 as buyers race to beat the stamp duty deadline when the tax-free threshold will reduce from £500,000 to £250,000 at the end of June.
The Bank of England said typical rates on new mortgages have risen to 1.95 per cent, up from a record low of 1.72 per cent in August 2020.
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Rates on new personal loans to individuals fell to 5.03% in March with an interest rate of 7.03 per cent in January 2020, the Bank of England data shows.
“You can feel the optimism bubbling over in the new saving and borrowing figures, as the vaccine rollout continued apace and the country prepared to reopen for business,” Sarah Coles, personal finance analyst for Hargreaves Lansdown, said.
“There’s hope that even in more optimistic times we’ll maintain our savings, and that the one in four people who told us they still don’t have any emergency savings, have an opportunity to put away some cash for the future.”
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