According to the British Bankers Association (BBA), the number of mortgages approved in June by banks for house purchases rose to a 15 month high.

The BBA's figures show that 35,235 mortgages were approved during the last month which is up 61% on June last year. They went on to say that net mortgage lending, which strips out redemptions and repayments, edged higher, by 5.1 per cent year-on-year to £2.6billion last month, to take the total for the first six months of this year to £18.1billion.