The Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has estimated that gross mortgage lending totalled £20.6 billion In October.

This is close to September’s gross lending total of £20.5 billion and is 5% lower than October last year (£21.8 billion).

CML senior economist Mohammad Jamei said: “Housing market sentiment is holding up well, with demand still strong. This has led to a pick up in approvals, as expected.

“The more pressing issue is on the supply side, where the lack of private sellers continues to be an obstacle for would-be borrowers.

“For this reason, we expect lending in the months ahead to be driven more by remortgaging activity and less by house purchases. Remortgaging will be helped by competitively priced mortgage deals, which are encouraging borrowers to refinance.”

John Goodall, CEO of peer to peer platform Landbay, added: “The housing market is enjoying a return of buyer confidence following a politically turbulent summer, and many existing homeowners are choosing to take advantage of low interest rates to refinance their mortgage. However, this growth in lending volumes belies a much more mixed picture across the sectors. Buy-to-let lending levels remain around 24% down on this time last year, as April’s 3% stamp duty hike caused an initial wave of transactions, but left in its wake a much more subdued market.

“The fundamentals of the buy-to-let market are still pointing toward long term sustainable growth, but landlords have had a white knuckle ride over the last 12 months, and we hope to see them given some relief at next week’s Autumn Statement.”