HSBC mortgage approvals reach £4.9 billion in the first quarter of 2012.

£4.9 billion in HSBC mortgage approvals were made between January and March this year, which is a 9 per cent increase on the same period last year.

£4.9 million is the highest quarterly HSBC mortgage amount ever approved. Of this £1.2 billion was approved in first-time buyer deals. This goes a significant way towards the £3 billion pledged to first timers in 2012 and is an annual increase of 18 per cent. On an average HSBC are approving £19 million in mortgage deals per day.

Peter Dockar who is the head of HSBC mortgages has said that the lender is continuing to offer UK mortgage customers highly competitive rates and adds that the bank remains open for business.

He added that earlier in the year HSBC committed to making a minimum of £15 billion available to mortgage borrowers and the bank's first quarter figures show the lender is already well on its way to achieving this.

Joe Garner, head of the HBSC's UK retail banking has said that despite continued market challenges HSBC net lending has grown against an ever shrinking market.

HSBC mortgage funding comes mainly from deposits as opposed to the wholesale money market therefore the lender is consistently able to low mortgage rates.

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