High street banks provided £8.9bn-worth of mortgages last month and expect to crank up lending even further in July, British Bankers’ Association (BBA) figures have revealed.

Gross mortgage lending was above the six-month average in June and 2% higher than in May. High street banks represented roughly two-thirds of all UK mortgage lending.

Lenders also approved £9bn of mortgages last month, with approvals for house purchase and remortgaging 33% higher than last year. Anderson Harris director Jonathan Harris said the mortgage market continued its upward trajectory:

“Help to Buy has already made a flying start in its first four months, according to house builders, and is expected to give first-time buyers, as well as second steppers a boost from January when the guarantee element of the scheme is rolled out.

“We eagerly await further details of the pricing of the second stage of thescheme with the Chancellor meeting lenders and house builders today.”

However, a sustained recovery in the housing market remained some way off, he added. While gross mortgage lending has risen over the past six months, the trend for net lending has remained more subdued. This was down to higher capital repayments by borrowers, including those by homeowners moving between lenders, the BBA suggested.

Dragonfly Property Finance chief executive Jonathan Samuels said the jump in mortgage approvals year-on-year underlined just how far the market had moved on:

“With the Council of Mortgage Lenders, Bank of England, British Bankers’ Association and other sources reporting the same steady growth in transactions, the improvement of the mortgage market feels concrete and sustainable.

“Importantly, the way we borrow has changed in recent years. Pre-2007, people would borrow as much as they could, but now they are borrowing what they need. “The mindset of borrowers has changed and that is no bad thing.”