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Bank mortgage data seen upbeat
The Bank is set to release a raft of mortgage, credit and money supply data on Wednesday, offering a last glimpse at the effectiveness of its quantitative easing scheme before its August
Economists expect a modest rise in mortgage approvals to 47,000 in June from 43,414 the month before and for the total lent to almost double to 600 million pounds -- albeit from a very low base of 324 million the previous month.
Nonetheless, the level of mortgage approvals remains well below the levels of around 70,000 consistent with rising house prices and economists expect a less upbeat message from a sector-by-sector breakdown of M4 broad money supply data.
"The rise in housing activity is all well and good, but doesn't mean prices will start rising, and the Bank in the past has been sceptical about links between house prices and consumer spending," said Vicky Redwood, economist at Capital Economics. "I think we'll get a gloomier picture from the M4 data."
Provisional M4 figures released last week showed a 0.2 percent monthly drop in the money supply aggregate and a 14.2 percent annual rise, while M4 lending -- a measure of credit growth -- was flat on the month once securitisations were stripped out, and 11.2 percent up on the year.
On Wednesday the Bank will publish M4 and M4 lending data for households and non-financial firms, enabling analysts to see better how much of the central bank's 125 billion pounds of quantitative easing has flowed into the real economy.