According to The Bank of England (BoE) there were 43,201 mortgage approvals in April, up from 40,038 in March, which was better than analysts’ forecasts of 41,000, though well below 2008’s level of 55,280, when house prices were falling rapidly.

April’s data marks the third consecutive monthly rise in mortgage approvals and shows banks are becoming more open to lending and that the worst may be over for the housing market.

However, the level is still much lower than the average number of mortgages approved during Britain’s housing boom, which caused prices to triple from the start of the decade to their peak in late 2008 before tumbling by around a fifth to date.

Net mortgage lending was roughly in line with analysts’ forecasts, rising by £973m, compared to April 2008’s figure of £5.604bn. Consumer credit issuance was stronger than forecast at £314m in April, but remained at a very low level.