LONDON - British households took out more mortgages and increased their borrowing in January, adding to signs that consumers are less worried about Brexit than many businesses, Bank of England data showed.The number of mortgages approved for house purchase was higher than any forecast in a Reuters poll of economists, hitting 66,766 in January, a jump from 64,468 in December.
However, the annual growth rate in unsecured consumer lending slowed to 6.5 percent, its weakest pace in more than four years, the BoE figures showed. The country’s manufacturing sector slowed again in February, according to a survey also published on Friday.Earlier this week, data from Britain’s banking industry showed the highest number of mortgage approvals in January since September 2017 - hinting at a stabilisation in the weak housing market - while its measure of consumer credit grew at its fastest pace in nearly a year.