Slow down in mortgage lending

According to the British Bankers Association (BBA), underlying net mortgage lending growth slowed in March.

The BBA said mortgage lending rose by 5.1 billion pounds last month, unchanged from a downwardly revised increase of 5.1 billion pounds in February and below the recent average of 5.5 billion pounds.

In recent months, the housing market has shown resilience to three interest rate rises since last August, however, there have been some signs the market may be starting to cool.

"In the last two months, demand has moderated a little and, with no short-term prospect of costs reducing, mortgage lending growth should ease further in the months ahead," said BBA Director of Statistics David Dooks