Good news for potential homeowners: The Bank of England has revealed mortgage approvals hit a three month high in November.

A report showed that net mortgage lending went up by £3.9 billion, the largest rise since February 2008.

There were 70,410 loan approvals for house purchases in November, which was more than expected as the average over the previous six months was only 68,428.

Remortgaging figures were also promising, with 39,161 approvals, largely in line with the previous six months’ average.

The figures are great news for prospective homeowners, especially prospective first time buyers who are hoping to get onto the property ladder in 2016.

There are certainly plenty of promising signs. Alongside this increased lending we’re currently experiencing record low mortgage rates, some great mortgage deals, as well as the government’s Help to Buy scheme (see one of our earlier blog posts for more info on that).

We’ve now seen two successive months of increased approvals which has hopefully allayed any worries of a dip over winter.

It is also very encouraging to see that approvals are much higher than we were seeing at this point last year.

As we see lenders become more confident in the market, and borrowers benefit from record lows in mortgage rates, we should see lenders continue to offer more and more special deals to prospective borrowers.

The one possible negative going forward is the simple lack of housing, and we need to see the government follow through on promises in this regard.

Hopefully, as the economic climate steadily improves we will see mortgage lending stabilize and increase even further in 2016.

If you are thinking of trying to secure a mortgage, whether its for the first time or on a new property, get in touch with one of our experts for some free specialist advice!