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LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - British banks approved thehighest number of mortgages in almost two years in January assome investors sought to snap up properties before a tax onbuy-to-let properties due in April, industry figures showed onWednesday.
The British Bankers' Association said its members approved47,509 loans for house purchase in January on a seasonallyadjusted basis - its highest since February 2014. That was upfrom a seven-month low of 43,660 in December and 27 percenthigher than the same time last year.
Net credit card lending rose by 262 million pounds inJanuary, compared with a 64 million pounds increase in December.
"The start of the year has seen a significant rise inmortgage borrowing. It seems that this has been driven, in part,by borrowers looking to get ahead of the increases in stamp dutyfor buy-to-let and second home buyers scheduled to come intoeffect in April," BBA chief economist Richard Woolhouse said.
Britain's finance minister George Osborne announced in abudget statement in November that buy-to-let investors will haveto pay a 3 percentage-point higher rate of stamp duty thanresidential buyers from April, as the government tried to cool amarket that was heating up.
The BBA data do not include lending by Britain's mutuallyowned building societies, but the figures serve as a goodleading indicator for more comprehensive Bank of England figurestypically released around a week later. (Reporting by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, editing by Andy Bruce)
