In a day of mixed fortunes for the property industry, high street banks reported that mortgage activity is dropping.

Last month, the number of mortgage approves for house purchase was 39,271 – 10% down on September 2013.

The British Bankers’ Association said the housing market is beginning to cool.

Approvals had been relatively high at the start of the year, but have slowed since June, the BBA said.

However, the National House Building Council said that new home registrations are up 8% on a year ago – with the figures the highest for a Q3 since 2007.

In total, 36,343 new homes were registered with the NHBC between July and September, with most – 28,464 – in the private sector.

Notably, the number of private sector new-builds has gone up, while the number of public sector new-builds has gone down when compared with the same period last year.