December 2009 was the first month since November 2008 that mortgage approvals for house purchases fell as they were down by 1,022 to 59,023 from November 2009 according to the Bank of England (BoE).

Total mortgage lending in December was £1.2bn, down from a revised figure of £1.6bn in November. Remortgaging approvals increased to 27,276 and whilst this was higher than November 2009, it was below the six-month average of 28,417.

Paul Broadhead, Building Societies Association’s (BSA) head of mortgage policy, said: “Whilst it is encouraging to see an increase in gross lending at the end of the year when activity would typically decline, we believe it is likely that this rise can be attributed to a rush from buyers keen to complete transactions before the year end in order to beat the removal of the stamp duty holiday. Despite this rise, total gross lending in 2009 was only half of that in 2008 and it is likely to remain at low levels until funding conditions improve.”

According to the BSA, gross mortgage lending by building societies increased by +15% in December 2009 to £1.8bn, compared to £1.6bn in November. Gross lending for 2009 totalled £18.6bn compared to £37.5bn in 2008.