The annual growth in the banks’ net mortgage lending was 4.3%, unchanged from last month, according to latest data from the British Bankers’ Association.

Gross mortgage lending of £9.0 billion in May was in line with the average of the previous six months. Repayments continued to be stronger than usual as borrowers tried to reduce their borrowing where possible.

However, net mortgage lending grew by £2.6 billion in May compared with £1.9 billion in April.

The high street banks are currently providing over 70% of approvals for house purchase, compared with around 55% three years ago. The average value of house purchase approvals (£150,500) was 10.5% higher than a year ago. Numbers of remortgaging and equity withdrawal approvals continue to be lower than a year earlier.

BBA statistics director, David Dooks said: “High street banks are the main providers in the mortgage market