There were 66,440 mortgage approvals for house purchase in August, the Bank of England has said.

This was the highest level since January, although the monthly numbers of approvals have changed very little over the last five years.

Remortgaging approvals in August rose sharply in contrast to 53,125 – the highest since last November.

The Bank said that remortgaging was “volatile” while house purchase approvals continued to be in a narrow band of numbers.