The number of mortgage approvals for house purchase in the U.K. increased in March, data released by the British Bankers' Association (BBA) showed Wednesday.
Mortgage approvals totaled 31,227 in March, up from 30,579 in February. Economists had forecast approvals to rise to 31,400.
"The Funding for Lending Scheme has made the mortgage market more competitive - allowing smaller institutions to offer attractive rates," BBA statistics director David Dooks said.
Net mortgage borrowing from the banks fell 0.1 percent in the the year to March. The outstanding level of unsecured borrowing contracted 1.6 percent over the same period.
Gross mortgage borrowing of GBP 7.6 billion in March was below the recent monthly average, BBA said.
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