Mortgage approvals to home buyers dipped and savers shovelled more cash into their Isas as rumours about various potential measures swirled in the run-up to the Budget.

The number of mortgages being approved for house purchase slipped back in October compared with the previous month, according to Bank of England figures.

Some 65,018 mortgages were approved for house purchase in October, the Money and Credit report said.

The figure was lower than 65,647 mortgage approvals for house purchase recorded in September, but higher than the 64,735 in August.

There were also around 33,100 approvals for remortgaging in October, marking the lowest total since February this year. The remortgaging figures only capture borrowing with a different lender.

Richard Donnell, executive director at Zoopla,

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