Lending to UK customers rallies at its slowest tempo for four years

In December, lending to UK customers tacked on at its slowest tempo for four years. That’s what follows from the Bank of England report uncovered on Wednesday. It definitely underscored the loss of momentum in the British economy ahead of Brexit.

In unsecured consumer lending, the annual surge rate decreased to 6.6% from November’s reading of 7.2%. That’s the smallest leap since December 2014.

What’s more, there have been a number of signs from numerous retailers that UK households cut their spending at the end of 2018, having stumbled on the possibility of Britain departing from the European bloc even without a deal to soothe the economic shock.

The country’s Prime Minister Theresa May told that she’s going to look for changes to the Brexit agreement she made with other EU officials in 2018, although they’ve excluded major alterations, thus leaving open the likelihood of a no-deal Brexit in less than two months' time.

Britain’s major bank informed that in December the overall number of mortgages approved for house purchase slumped to 63,793, which appears to be the lowest result since April. However, it beat a median estimate of 63,000 in a Reuters survey of financial analysts.

Last year the UK housing market headed south and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors told its members had the most downbeat outlook for home sales for the coming three months since 1999.

Mark Carney, BoE Governor warned that in case of a disorderly departure from the European bloc home prices could dive by nearly 30% as part of a broader economic shock.

According to the BoE data, in December, net mortgage lending accounted for 4.112 billion pounds in contrast with November’s outcome of 3.631 billion pounds.

As for credit card lending, it tacked on by 92 million pounds that appears to be the smallest ascend since September 2014.