Gross mortgage lending hits £24.2bn in August

Accounting for seasonal factors, this figure, reported by UK Finance, estimates that it is in the same ball park as monthly lending over the course of 2017.

House purchase approvals by the High Street banks reached 41,807 in August, stronger than the monthly average of 41,133 over the last six months and 11 per cent higher than the same time last year when the market was subdued following the referendum result.

UK Finance data also shows that consumer borrowing from High Street banks slowed to 1.5 per cent in August, down from 1.9 per cent in July.

Non-financial companies’ deposits are growing annually by 8.7 per cent as businesses hold cashflow, the data reveals.

UK Finance’s senior economist Mohammad Jamei said: “Housing market activity is in Goldilocks territory, growing only modestly since the start of the year, though the mix of activity has shifted towards first-time buyers, away from buy-to-let and cash. There is also some rebalancing across regions, as activity picks up in the north of England, Wales and Scotland, away from London, the south east and east Anglia.

“Despite resilience in consumer spending, annual growth in consumer credit has been slowing over the last few months. Across the UK some households have opted to save a little less, whilst others have not increased their borrowing. Meanwhile there has been growth in business deposits as non-financial companies hold cashflow and reserves amidst broader uncertainty in their trading conditions.”