Mortgage approvals dropped again in January as the problems in the property market continue.
Just 23,400 mortgages were completed in January, the latest statistics from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) have revealed.
The figure marked a decrease of 27 percent from December's total of 32,400, while it was 51 percent down on the 48,600 mortgages completed in January 2008. The low figure comes despite repeated attempts by the government and the Bank of England to increase mortgage flow over the last few months.
Ministers have called on banks to resume lending and the Bank of England has reduced the base rate to a record low of 0.5 percent, but these measures have not been reflected in mortgage data. However, CML director general Michael Coogan stressed that January and February "are usually the quietest months in the mortgage market".
He added: "People want to know why lenders are not lending. They are, but government schemes to restore the flow of funds are primarily focused on a few large banks and recent lending commitments by a few lenders cannot fill the gap overnight although we hope to see more funds flowing into mortgage activity later in the year."
House prices have also steadily fallen for several months, with the latest report from Halifax indicating that the average house cost £160,327 in February - 17.7 percent less than a year earlier.
