India, April 30 -- UK mortgage approvals increased to a one-and-a-half year high in March as the impact of higher interest rates waned, data published by the Bank of England showed on Tuesday.
Net mortgage approvals for house purchases increased to 61,300 in March from 60,500 in February. This was the highest since September 2022 and also above the expected level of 61,000.
By contrast, net approvals for remortgaging decreased to 34,200 from 37,700 in the previous month.
The effective interest rate, which is the actual interest paid on newly drawn mortgages, fell by 17 basis points to 4.73 percent in March.
Over the last five consecutive meetings, the BoE has kept its interest rate unchanged at 5.25 percent, the highest level since earl...