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£9.9bn for societies in flight from banks
Hugo Duncan2 Mar 2009
More than a million new building society accounts were opened last year as savers continued to shift their money away from banks following the collapse of Northern Rock.
The Building Societies Association today said an additional 1.2 million accounts - net of closures - were opened in 2008. It meant an extra £9.9 billion was held by building societies at the end of 2008 than the start.
Building societies attracted £20 billion in net receipts in the 16 months after September 2007 when Northern Rock hit the buffers - a 68% increase on the £11.9 billion taken in the 16 months before.
Mortgage approvals in January were down 89% from £3.2 billion in January 2008 to £347 million, the BSA said.
The Bank of England said 31,000 loans were approved for house purchase in January, the same as in December but sharply down on a year earlier.
