Mortgage approvals down on average

More evidence of tighter mortgage availability emerged on Wednesday after figures showed approvals remain well down on their long-term average.

The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase rose 1.5% to 49,860 in March but this is down on the previous six-month average of more than 53,000 and is a sharp drop on the relatively strong month of January, when nearly 58,000 approvals were recorded, Bank of England figures showed.