The amount of mortgage lending agreed by building societies in the UK is showing signs of stabilising, it has been claimed.
New figures produced by the Building Societies Association (BSA), show that gross lending was just under £2 billion in June this year.
This was an increase of 30 per cent on the previous month's total and was the highest recorded so far in 2009.
However, the BSA also pointed out that, despite the increases, lending remains at historically low levels and was down 40 per cent compared with June last year.
Figures released recently by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) showed that mortgage approvals totalled 47,584 in June, which was a rise from the 31,874 the previous month.
However, responding to the statistics, CML economist Paul Samter said: "This is consistent with the improvement in housing market sentiment, but the outlook is still sluggish, as capacity constraints on the lending industry and continuing deterioration in the labour market will act as a brake on the pick-up."