Mortgage lending at highest level since May 2004

Compared to a year earlier, mortgage approvals are 48.8 per cent higher, and 62.7 per cent above the low point reached in November 2004. Mortgage approvals are also above their average for the last decade of 100,000, strengthening the argument that the housing market in 2006 will see the first rise in activity since 2002, after three consecutive years of decline.