U.K. BUILDING SOCIETY RECEIPTSRISE IN FEBRUARY
U.K building society net receipts in
February were 472 mln stg, slightly up on January's 456 mln but
well below the 793 mln stg of February 1986, the Building
Societies' Association (BSA) said.
    BSA Secretary-General Mark Boleat noted that net receipts
were below 500 mln stg for the third month out of the last
four.
    "This was obviously a disappointing performance, especially
in view of the rapid growth of mortgage commitments, to over
2.5 billion stg," he said.
    The BSA said receipts were depressed by the British Airways
flotation, despite the later return of oversubscribed funds.
    Total building society receipts in February were 6.4
billion stg against withdrawals of 5.9 billion.
    Mortgage lending to home buyers during the month fell
slightly to 2.16 billion stg from 2.18 billion stg in January,
the BSA said. Mortgage lending has fallen steadily since last
July's peak of 3.9 billion stg.
    Net new mortgage commitments however rose to 2.5 billion
stg from January's 1.9 billion, bringing the total commitments
outstanding to 6.9 billion after January's 6.6 billion stg.
    Wholesale funding rose to 292 mln stg after January's 29
mln, but was still below each of the last six 1986 months.
 REUTER
