Best Gold Stocks to Buy Now: AABB, GOLD, GDX 
The United Kingdom mortgage approvals fell to 18-month low in July. However, business lending strengthened after a significant downturn for June and there has been a generally stronger trend over the first seven months of 2016.
British banks approved 37,662 new mortgages in July, the lowest seasonally-adjusted number since January 2015. Economists had predicted a fall to around 38,000, data released by the British Bankers’ Association showed Wednesday.
The BBA said gross mortgage borrowing rose 6 percent to GBP12.6 billion in July compared to the same month last year. Re-mortgaging was also 6 percent higher in July in contrast to 2015 and 21 percent up in the first seven months of this year.
The setback comes amid a good week for the property sector, with house builder Persimmon shrugging off uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum result to post a 19 percent rise in pre-tax profits. However, ultra-low interest rates allowed consumer credit to push higher — rising more than 6% compared to July last year.
"The data does not currently suggest borrowing patterns have been significantly affected by the Brexit vote, but it is still early days. Many borrowing decisions will also have been taken before the referendum," said Rebecca Harding, Chief Economist, BBA.
Meanwhile, there will be significant lags before any underlying downturn in confidence has an actual impact on the market given the long lead times for decisions. The cut in interest rates will also have only a delayed impact in changing sentiment. The market will also continue to be distorted by changes in tax legislation, which boosted buy-to-let sales early in 2016, reports said.
