Gross mortgage lending in February was an estimated £9.5 billion, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). This is virtually identical to January’s gross lending figure of £9.475 billion and under 1% higher than the £9.419 billion in February last year.

CML chief economist Bob Pannell said: “There is little in the latest batch of market data that would cause us to revise our market forecasts for 2011