British banks approve fewer home loans in July - BBA

LONDON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - British banks approved fewer homeloans last month than they did in June, as tighter rules onmortgages lending introduced late in April took some of the heatout of the housing market, industry data showed on Tuesday.

The British Bankers' Association said its members approved42,792 loans for house purchases in July, down from June'sthree-month high of 43,180 and below an average in the firstthree months of 2014 of just under 47,000.

Mortgage approvals are still about 12 percent higher thanJuly last year, though the amount of net new mortgage lending inJuly - some 821 million pounds ($1.36 billion) - was the lowestsince January.

Britain's Financial Conduct Authority required lenders tointroduce tighter affordability checks on mortgages in lateApril, and the Bank of England imposed further restrictions onhow much most Britons can borrow in June.

"Mortgage approval processes have now settled after theintroduction of the Mortgage Market Review, to a typical levelof around 40,000 mortgages approved a month for house purchase,"the BBA said in a statement.

The BBA data does not include mortgages approved by buildingsocieties, a major part of the market. Bank of England data forall British mortgage lending in July is due on Sept. 1. ($1 = 0.6033 British pounds) (Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Louise Ireland)