Statistics released by the British Banking Association show that September's increase in underlying mortgage lending was the smallest for five months.
Net mortgage lending rose by an underlying GBP5.4 billion. This was GBP0.4 billion lower than the GBP5.9 billion rise in August and also below the monthly average increase of GBP5.6 billion over the previous six months.
Despite the lower figures for September, the British Banking Association (BBA) indicated that this was to be expected after a bigger than average increase in August.
It is not unusual for an above-trend net mortgage lending figure, as we saw in August, to be followed by a below-trend figure, as in September. Neither figure should be viewed as a sign of structural changes in demand; the underlying movements have been stable recently, increasing by around GBP5.6 billion a month for the last 5 months, said David Dooks, BBA director of statistics.