There were 68,076 approvals for house purchase mortgage in April, the Bank of England has reported – the most since February last year.

The “seasonally adjusted” figure – ie, not the actual amount – was up from March’s figure of 61,945, February’s 62,304 and January’s figure of 60,991.

It is also higher than the average number of loan approvals for house purchase over the previous six months. That figure was 60,679.

Some analysts have been surprised by the pre-election bounce in lending, with a number having said that the housing market stalled in the run-up to May’s election.