The figure was up from 85,530 in August, 67,098 in July and a record low of just 9,338 in May.

September’s 13-year high for mortgage approvals provides clear evidence of the ongoing pick-up in housing market activity that has occurred since pent-up demand was released by the easing of the coronavirus restrictions from mid-May. 

However, Scottish Financial News reported this week that UK banks are turning away mortgage business by increasing interest rates on several new mortgages as they struggle to cope with soaring demand for borrowing in the post-lockdown housing market.

Halifax, TSB, Nationwide, NatWest, Barclays, and Yorkshire and Chelsea building societies are among the lenders to have raised interest rates over the past three weeks, even as the Bank of England base rate has remained at its record low of 0.1%

Howard Archer, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said that the buoyancy of the market has been reinforced by the Chancellor raising the Stamp Duty threshold to £500,000 from mid-July through to 31 March 2021.

He added: “The monthly RICS residential monthly survey for September observed that its findings “continue to point to a strong upturn in activity across the market, as indicators on enquiries, agreed sales and new listings all remain strongly positive.”