INSTANT VIEW - Mortgage approvals dive, credit set to tighten

LONDON (Reuters) - British mortgage approvals for house purchase fell to a record low in November, while a separate survey showed credit conditions looked set to tighten further in the next three months, Bank of England said on Friday.

The figures are likely to reinforce expectations the Bank of England will cut interest rates by at least 50 basis points next week from the current 2 percent.

The survey findings will disappoint the government which has pumped 37 billion pounds of taxpayers' money into some of Britain's biggest banks and offered sweeping guarantees to encourage them to lend.

KEY POINTS

- Mortgage approvals lowest since series began in Jan 1999

- Highest annual rate of M4 money growth since June 1990

- BoE credit conditions survey shows lenders expected to reduce availability of credit to households in 2009

- Spreads on corporate lending expected to widen in coming months

- Further increase in defaults on household lending expected