Gross mortgage lending in May was an estimated £12.2 billion, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has reported.

This represents a 24% rise from £9.9 billion in April and a 13% rise from May 2011.

“The government has recently announced a number of measures to counter the adverse effects from the Eurozone crisis,” said Bob Pannell, the CML’s chief economist.

“It clearly senses an opportunity to bolster home ownership and housing activity, and we look forward to hearing more details about the “funding for lending” initiative which seeks to deliver this.

“Meanwhile, mortgage lending continues to seesaw, albeit against a broadly flat market. Unfortunately, a number of one-off factors, such as the Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics, are set to distort market indicators over the coming months, and it may be the autumn before we can more accurately gauge the state of the market.”