LONDON, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Mortgages approved by British banksrose in January for the first time since June, although theywere still around a quarter below their level a year previously,the British Bankers' Association said on Wednesday.
Mortgage approvals for house purchase rose to 36,394 from35,816 in December. Despite the increase, this was still down 26percent from January a year ago.
The BBA also reported strong growth of personal loans andoverdrafts, which rose 3.9 percent on an annual basis -- thehighest rate since late 2008.
"There continues to be strong demand for personal borrowingwhich is at its highest levels in recent years," said RichardWoolhouse, chief economist at the BBA.
"The housing market appears to be bottoming out with aslight increase in approvals for new purchases in the last monthbut this is still significantly down on the levels of activitywe saw last year." (Reporting by Andy Bruce, editing by David Milliken)