Mortgage lending rises

The latest monthly figures produced by the British Bankers'' Association (BBA) have revealed that mortgage lending increased in October.

However, the BBA noted that the rate of growth was slower than in previous months and mortgage approvals were lower than before.

David Dooks, director of statistic at the organisation, said: "October''s data provide evidence of a rapidly slowing mortgage market and of consumers limiting their personal borrowing."

The impact of recent interest rate rises, additional pressure on household finances and the global credit crunch may have affected demand for mortgages among consumers, he added.

However, the Council of Mortgage Lenders recently predicted that next year gross mortgage lending levels would still exceed that of 2005.

The organisation suggested that house price inflation was likely to continue to be positive in 2008 and that there would be more than one million property transactions over the course of the year.

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