Gross lending amounted to £23.8 billion in May down from £24.8 billion in April but is still almost 9 per cent higher than May last year.
The drop in gross lending is mainly a result of fewer house sales as lending fell by £1.2 billion – exactly the amount by which it rose from March to April.
First-time buyer numbers are up 1 per cent on May last year at 31 per cent with first-timers still accounting for 30 per cent of all loans for house purchase.
Property website Rightmove asserted that Greater London and the South East are still at the forefront of the downturn with prices in the capital falling three weeks in a row.
The national average house price rose 2.6 per cent month-on-month bringing the average price to £193,965.
Miles Shipside, commercial director of Rightmove, said: “Over the month the prices are up again but close analysis provides evidence that the market may have turned. The impact of four interest rate rises – including two on the bounce in April and May – is beginning to bite. Right up to the end of May the boom continued unabated but come June the market seems to have turned and we’ve seen the first price falls since the seasonal slowdown last Christmas.”
