The British Bankers Association has said that mortgage lending will remain robust over the coming months.

The BBA added that November’s gross mortgage lending was a record at 21.4bn pounds, some 13% higher than Octobers figure and 19% higher than the 18.0bn recorded in November last year.

Underlying net mortgage lending (gross lending minus repayments and redemptions) rose by 6.7bn pounds during the month, compared with 5.7bn in October, 5.1bn in November 2005 and an average of 5.7bn over recent months.

Overall, there were 206,051 mortgage approvals (for all purposes) in November, with an aggregate value of 23.0bn. This number of approvals was 6.8% higher than in November 2005 and their value was 20.8% higher.

The average loan approved for house purchase was 146,900 pounds, some 12% higher than a year earlier.

Compared to the same month a year earlier, Novembers loan approvals for house purchase were 9% higher by number and 23% higher by value. Remortgaging approvals were 7% higher by number and 20% higher by value; whilst approvals for equity withdrawal were 3% higher by number and 14% higher by value.

David Dooks, BBA director of statistics, said: “The contrast between the annual growth rate of net mortgage lending, at 14% and consumer credit, at 2%, is noteworthy.”

“In the mortgage market, the high number of loans approved in November, which is not usually a strong month, suggest that the trend in mortgage lending will continue to be robust over the next few months.”

“Monthly spending on credit cards and the value of new personal loans taken out have been generally lower in 2006 than in the previous couple of years, while repayment levels have been maintained, leading to this years picture of subdued borrowing.”