Overview
As part of our mission to maintain monetary and financial stability, we need to understand trends and developments in credit conditions. This quarterly survey of bank and building society lenders is an input to this work. The survey covers:
- secured and unsecured lending to households; and
- lending to non-financial corporations, small businesses, and to non-bank financial firms.
This report presents the results of the 2024 Q3 survey. Lenders were asked to report changes in the three months to end-August 2024 (Q3), relative to the period between March and May, and expected changes in the three months to end-November 2024 (Q4), relative to the period between June and August. The survey was conducted between 27 August and 13 September 2024. Any impact on lenders’ expectations from developments occurring within this period may not be fully captured, and any impact from more recent developments will not be captured at all.
The results are based on lenders’ own responses to the survey and are reported as net percentage balances. The changes in balances are described as an ‘increase’ if greater than 10 in absolute terms, as ‘slight’ if between 5 and 10 and as ‘unchanged’ if less than 5. The results do not necessarily reflect our views on credit conditions. You can read a full guide to interpreting the survey and copies of the questionnaires at the end of this page.
You can also read more background information on the survey in the 2007 Q3 Quarterly Bulletin article The Bank of England Credit Conditions Survey.
The 2024 Q4 Credit Conditions Survey will be published on 16 January 2025.
Supply
- Lenders reported that the availability of secured credit to households increased in the three months to end-August 2024 (Q3) and was expected to be unchanged over the next three months to end-November 2024 (Q4) (Chart 1).
- Lenders reported that the availability of unsecured credit to households slightly increased in Q3 and was expected to increase in Q4 (Chart 2).
- Lenders reported that the overall availability of credit to the corporate sector was unchanged in Q3. Availability for small businesses was unchanged, while medium-sized and large businesses availability slightly increased in Q3. Overall availability was expected to be unchanged in Q4.
Footnotes
- (a) Net percentage balances are calculated by weighting together the responses of those lenders who answered the question. The aqua bars show the responses over the previous three months. The orange diamond shows the expectation over the next three months. Expectations data can be used as an indicator of the potential direction and magnitude of the change expected in the next quarter, but should not be treated as a realised outturn. Previous expectations balances are available in full in the annex.
- (b) Question: ‘How has the availability of secured credit provided to households changed?’.
- (c) A positive balance indicates an increase in credit availability.
Footnotes
- (a) Net percentage balances are calculated by weighting together the responses of those lenders who answered the question. The aqua bars show the responses over the previous three months. The orange diamond shows the expectation over the next three months. Expectations data can be used as an indicator of the potential direction and magnitude of the change expected in the next quarter, but should not be treated as a realised outturn. Previous expectations balances are available in full in the annex.
- (b) Question: ‘How has the availability of unsecured credit provided to households changed?’.
- (c) A positive balance indicates that more unsecured credit is available.
Demand
- Lenders reported that demand for secured lending for house purchase was unchanged in Q3 and was expected to increase in Q4. Demand for secured lending for remortgaging decreased in Q3 and was expected to increase in Q4 (Chart 3).
- Lenders reported that overall demand for unsecured lending was unchanged in Q3 and was expected to decrease slightly in Q4. Within the overall figure, demand for credit card lending was unchanged in Q3 and was expected to decrease in Q4, while demand for other unsecured lending was reported to have increased in Q3 and was expected to increase in Q4 (Chart 4).
- Lenders reported that demand for corporate lending from businesses of all sizes was unchanged in Q3 (Chart 5). Demand for corporate lending in Q4 was expected to decrease slightly for small businesses, expected to increase slightly for medium-sized businesses, and expected to increase for large businesses.
Footnotes
- (a) Net percentage balances are calculated by weighting together the responses of those lenders who answered the question. The aqua bars show the responses over the previous three months. The orange diamonds show the expectation over the next three months. Expectations data can be used as an indicator of the potential direction and magnitude of the change expected in the next quarter, but should not be treated as a realised outturn. Previous expectations balances are available in full in the annex.
- (b) Question: ‘How has demand for secured lending for house purchase/remortgaging from households changed?’.
- (c) A positive balance indicates an increase in demand.