Banks approved the largest number of mortgages for house purchase in five months in April.

Data from banking trade body UK Finance shows there were 44,034 approvals for house purchase from the main high street banks in April, the highest figure since November 2018 and up 5.4% annually.

The increase is even more impressive on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 11.5% to 42,989, the largest rise since March 2016 and the highest number of approvals since February 2017.

Commentators suggest these approvals could filter through to a boost in home sales over the coming months.

Mike Scott, chief property analyst at Yopa, said: “These are mortgage approvals, not completions, and they will take several months to work their way through to completed house purchases.

“This is therefore an early sign that housing market activity is likely to be healthy in the second half of this year, although there may be another slowdown as the new Brexit deadline approaches.

“However, we expect that this will be as short-lived as the March slowdown, and that 2019 overall will see a similar number of houses bought and sold as in each of the years from 2014 to 2018, around 1.2 million in total across the whole UK.”